Varnish Software is seeking a Solutions Engineer to join our North American team—preferably based in Irvine, California. This is a hands-on technical role that requires writing code, configuring Varnish systems, and working directly with customers to solve complex performance and content delivery challenges.

You’ll play a critical role throughout the customer journey—contributing to pre-sales strategy, developing proofs of concept, and supporting deployments post-sale. In close collaboration with Sales, Product, and Engineering, you’ll ensure that Varnish solutions are aligned to customer needs and successfully implemented in production environments.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Solutions & Pre-Sales Support

• Serve as a trusted technical advisor from first engagement through deployment and growth.
• Design and deliver custom Varnish configurations and code to solve customer-specific challenges.
• Collaborate with Sales to develop technical strategies that support customer acquisition and expansion.
• Lead technical discovery sessions, demos, and Proofs of Concept (PoCs).
• Provide deep technical guidance throughout evaluations, pilots, and production rollouts.

Post-Sales Implementation & Support

• Directly support customer deployments—writing VCL (Varnish Configuration Language), tuning performance, and integrating into broader environments.
• Troubleshoot complex protocol-level and infrastructure issues.
• Monitor usage and performance post-deployment, recommending improvements and upgrades.
• Partner with Customer Success teams to drive adoption and customer satisfaction.

Product Feedback & R&D Collaboration

• Act as the voice of the customer to Product and Engineering teams.
• Provide structured feedback based on real-world usage and customer requests.
  Participate in internal testing, documentation, and roadmap planning initiatives.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Represent Field Engineering in customer meetings, internal strategy discussions, and industry events.
• Advocate for technical quality and operational excellence across pre- and post-sales efforts.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (preferred).
• 5+ years in a technical role such as Solutions Engineer, Field Engineer, Developer, or DevOps Engineer. 
• Hands-on experience writing and deploying code in production environments (VCL, Python, shell scripting, or similar). 
• Deep familiarity with networking, caching, HTTP, CDN, or web performance optimization.
• Prior experience with Varnish or comparable caching/acceleration solutions is a strong plus.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to guide customers and influence stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel across North America as needed.

Personal Attributes

• Technically driven with a strong commercial mindset.
• Self-starter who enjoys solving problems and building solutions hands-on.
• Customer-centric and quality-oriented with a proactive attitude.
• Effective communicator with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborative and adaptable in a fast-paced, globally distributed environment.

About Varnish Software

Varnish Software creates edge caching and content delivery software that unlocks fast, reliable digital experiences for users and systems. We’re an inclusive employer; seeing diversity as a strong asset. When we’ve different perspectives and approaches, we grow together to create innovative solutions and contributions to software development and to our customers. With this diversity, we have one thing in common; we’re fun and friendly. And we’re in this together!