Systems Engineering Manager–China
Company: VAST Data
Location: Shanghai or Beijing
Description
VAST Data is reshaping the future of AI and data infrastructure. As we expand into one of the world most dynamic technology markets, we are seeking a highly driven Systems Engineering manager. In this pivotal role, you will act as the technical right-hand to the General Manager of Greater China.
Because we are in a rapid scale-up phase, this is strictly a player-coach role. Before you build out a large regional team, you will be our founding technical boots on the ground. You must be just as comfortable racking and stacking hardware, running command-line diagnostics during a complex PoC, and architecting AI data pipelines as you are presenting to a Fortune 500 CIO.
You will personally lead the technical sales cycle for our most strategic, high-value accounts, while gradually recruiting and leading a world-class Systems Engineering (SE) team. If you are a hardcore technologist who loves the thrill of the deal and wants to build a multi-billion- dollar business from the ground up, this is your opportunity.
Key Responsibilities
- Hands-On Technical Sales Account Execution
- Lead from the Front: Act as the lead Systems Engineer on VAST’s largest, most strategic Tier-1 and hyperscale accounts in China. You will personally own the technical win.
- Architect Solutions: Design complex, high-performance data infrastructure solutions tailored to customer requirements in AI/ML, High-Performance Computing (HPC),and enterprise workloads.
- Execute Proof of Concepts (PoCs): Roll up your sleeves to personally install, configure, tune, and benchmark VAST systems during highly competitive PoCs against entrenched domestic and global vendors.
- Overcome Objections: Serve as the deepest technical expert in the room, capable of whiteboarding low-level architecture, debugging performance bottlenecks, and proving VASTs superiority in real-time.
- Technical Leadership; Go-To-Market Strategy
- Partner with the GM: Work lockstep with the GM of Greater China to define the technical go-to-market strategy, prioritize target accounts, and navigate regional data compliance (Cybersecurity Law, PIPL).
- Build the Team: As pipeline dictates, recruit, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of Systems Engineers. Teach them VAST technology by bringing them into your active deals.
- Enable the Ecosystem: Personally lead the technical onboarding and enablement for VAST’s foundational channel partners, VARs, SIs, and domestic cloud alliances (Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei).
- Bridge to R&D: Serve as the technical translator between the Chinese market and VAST’s global Product/Engineering teams, advocating for specific regional feature requirements and competitive intelligence.
REQUIREMENTS
- 10+ years of progressive experience in technical presales or systems engineering, with a proven track record as an elite, high-performing Individual Contributor (IC) on massive enterprise accounts.
- 3+ years of experience in a leadership or player-coach; capacity, ideally as a founding technical hire for a Western tech company entering the Chinese market.
- Demonstrable history of personally driving and winning complex technical sales cycles and PoCs with deal values in the $500K–$5M+ range.
- You must still be highly technical today—this is not a role for someone who has stepped entirely away from the technology to focus solely on spreadsheets and resource allocation.
Technical Domain Expertise
- Deep Infrastructure Knowledge: Expert-level understanding of enterprise storage (NAS, object, all-flash), file systems, and software-defined architectures.
- AI Compute: Strong grasp of AI/ML data pipelines, GPU-accelerated computing (NVIDIA ecosystem), and the infrastructure demands of LLM training and RAG.
- Networking & Linux: Hands-on proficiency with Linux OS tuning, high-performance networking (InfiniBand, RoCE, TCP/IP), and containerization (Kubernetes).
- Competitive Landscape: Intimate, battle-tested knowledge of how to beat Huawei OceanStor, Inspur, DDN, WEKA, and Dell PowerScale in competitive bake-offs.
Skills & Attributes
- Languages: Fluent/Native Mandarin and strong professional English are strictly required.
- Startup DNA: Extreme resilience, resourcefulness, and a bias for action. You thrive in ambiguity and dont wait for headquarters to solve your problems.
- Willingness to travel: Extensive travel required within Greater China (approx. 40- 50%), often visiting data centers and customer sites.
What We Offer
- Market-Leading Compensation: Highly competitive base salary, uncapped variable commission, and equity participation in a pre-IPO company fundamentally changing AI infrastructure.
- The Best of Both Worlds: The autonomy to build your own technical organization, combined with the thrill of staying hands-on with bleeding-edge technology.
- World-Class Support: Partner closely with an elite global engineering team and a visionary regional General Manager.