Value Engineer, Solutions Engineering

Category-defining tech. Career-defining work. The next era of software won’t operate at human scale. Applications will create applications. Systems will coordinate with systems. Data and decisions will move faster than teams can react to them. The infrastructure powering that world cannot be fragile, reactive, or limited by the assumptions of the past. Cockroach Labs exists to build what comes next — before the world requires it. We created CockroachDB to survive failures, scale without compromise, and adapt to changing conditions automatically. Now we’re helping define a future where complexity fades into the background and infrastructure simply works, no matter the scale. This is the kind of challenge that attracts people who want to shape industries, not just participate in them. The work is ambitious, the standards are high, and the impact is real. The Role The Value Engineer at Cockroach Labs is a strategic advisor embedded within our Solution Engineering organization, working directly with Account Executives, Sales Engineers, and Customer Success Managers to quantify and communicate the financial impact of adopting CockroachDB. You'll engage directly with customer IT Directors, CTOs, CFOs, and other senior executives, designing and delivering custom Return on Investment (ROI) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models that translate complex technical advantages into compelling financial narratives. This is a high-visibility, high-impact role that sits at the intersection of finance, technology, and consultative sales. You'll help customers across banking, payments, gaming, retail, and high technology make confident, data-driven decisions about their infrastructure investment, and you'll help build the Value Engineering practice at Cockroach Labs from the ground up. You Will ROI and TCO Modeling: Design and deliver custom, bottoms-up financial models that quantify the business value of migrating to or standardizing on CockroachDB. Models will account for infrastructure spend, operational overhead, licensing, developer productivity, and risk mitigation, calibrated to each customer's actual environment. Executive-Level Storytelling: Lead whiteboard sessions, executive presentations, and boardroom discussions that translate CockroachDB's technical advantages into financial narratives tied to P&L impact, capital efficiency, and long-term competitive advantage. Your audience is both the CFO and the CTO; you have to be credible with both. Customer Discovery: Conduct meaningful discovery with senior customer stakeholders to understand how their current database landscape (legacy RDBMS, NoSQL, or managed cloud) is creating cost drag, operational fragility, or scalability constraints, and how CockroachDB addresses those challenges. Field Enablement: Build and maintain the Value Engineering practice: customer discovery guides, technical-to-business pain taxonomy, ROI/TCO templates, champion decks, and win stories. Enable the broader SE and AE teams to apply the framework confidently and independently. Deal Support: Attend Global Evaluation Pit Stops to coach and validate business cases for active opportunities. Partner closely with Sales Engineers and Account Executives to accelerate deal velocity and expand strategic accounts. Product Feedback Loop: Serve as a conduit between customer conversations and the Product organization, synthesizing patterns in TCO and ROI discussions to provide direct input to the product roadmap and help shape the compelling database economics that can be unlocked through product enhancements. The Expectations In your first 6 months Develop an engagement strategy and collaboration model with field teams (AEs, SEs, CSMs) Build the foundation of the Value Engineering practice: customer discovery guides, TCO/ROI templates, pain-to-value taxonomy, and champion decks Produce at least one piece of Value Engineering thought leadership for external publication Enable the broader field on Value Engineering methodology and early customer win stories Attend Global Evaluation Pit Stops and begin contributing to live deal business cases In your first year Own the full Value Engineering motion, from customer discovery through executive presentation and deal close Establish Cockroach Labs as a credible voice on database TCO and infrastructure economics Build a repeatable, scalable playbook that the broader field team can leverage independently Contribute meaningful product feedback based on patterns from customer ROI and TCO conversations You Have 5+ years of experience in value engineering, financial consulting, technology consulting, or a related field, ideally in enterprise software, SaaS, or cloud infrastructure Strong financial modeling skills: bottoms-up cost analysis, ROI/NPV frameworks, and IT portfolio economics Technical fluency sufficient to engage in substantive discovery with engineering and infrastructure leaders; familiarity with database architecture, distributed systems, or cloud cost structures is a strong plus Proven ability to lead executive-level presentations and translate complex technical concepts into financial narratives that drive decisions Experience working in a consultative capacity alongside enterprise sales and technical teams Polished written and verbal communication skills; equally comfortable in a boardroom and a working session A demonstrated practice of integrating AI tools into your daily workflow to improve speed, quality, and decision-making Fluency with AI across core tasks (research, drafting, analysis, planning) used as a default, not an exception A builder's mindset: this is a practice-building role. You'll create the playbook, not follow one. Cockroach Labs is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer building a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you need additional accommodations to feel comfortable during your interview process, please email us at accessibility@cockroachlabs.com. Cockroach Labs has a hybrid work model, with Roachers that are local to one of our offices coming in on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays and working flexibly the rest of the week. While we’ve learned valuable lessons working remotely, nothing can replace the connection, creativity, and fun that occurs when Roachers get together and we are committed to fostering a workplace that encourages collaboration and allows us all to do our best work. Benefits Stock Options Medical Insurance Vision Insurance Dental Insurance Life and Disability Insurance Professional Development Funds Flexible Time Off Paid Holidays Paid Sick Days Paid Parental Leave Retirement Benefits Mental Wellbeing Benefits And more! The annual anticipated base salary range for U.S. candidates for this role is listed in USD below. This role is also eligible for commission. Salary is one component of the Cockroach Labs’ Total Rewards package, which also includes, for each employee: stock options, medical insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, life and disability insurance, funds towards professional development resources, flexible paid time off, 11 paid holidays a year, 10 paid sick days a year, paid parental leave, a 401(k) plan, and wellbeing benefits. We set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. Actual salaries may vary and fall outside of this range depending on factors such as a candidate’s qualifications, geographic location, skills, experience, and competencies. In addition, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted. Salaries for candidates outside the U.S. will vary based on local compensation structures. This position will remain posted until filled. Applicants should apply via our Careers Page. Annual Anticipated Base Salary Range (U.S) $145,000—$190,000 USD