Senior Pre-Sales Engineer

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Senior Pre-Sales Engineer
Location: Remote (home based) – UK only
Other: permanent, full-time, remote, with up to 30% approx. domestic & international travel

Step into a high‑impact role at the forefront of application security pre-sales, where you’ll shape technical strategy, influence major customers, and represent a market‑leading portfolio across the UK and beyond!

What the role has to offer

• Work with a world‑class application security portfolio, including industry‑leading WAF and advanced BOT protection technologies born from the integration of Imperva into Thales, giving you unmatched credibility in the market

• Be part of the next major evolution in cybersecurity, with Thales set to release its AI‑powered firewall in Q3 - leveraging generative AI and large, adaptable models to future‑proof customers and redefine application defence

• Shape strategic customer engagements across enterprise and global accounts, influencing technical direction and driving high‑value commercial outcomes

• Join a high‑performing, award‑winning sales organisation with strong leadership, clear growth pathways, and a culture that invests deeply in your development

Our Opportunity

Thales is expanding at pace and we’re looking for a customer‑driven, technically confident Senior Sales Engineer to join our high‑performing UK&I Field Sales Team. Ideally based within easy reach of a UK airport, you’ll step into a role that sits at the heart of our growth strategy and supports an award‑winning Enterprise Sales organisation known for consistently exceeding targets.

Imperva, now part of Thales, is a global leader in securing mission‑critical applications and high‑value data across hybrid and cloud environments. Representing this portfolio, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the pre‑sales journey for customers and partners, delivering technical leadership, compelling demonstrations, and proof‑of‑value engagements that showcase why thousands of organisations worldwide trust Thales to protect their most important assets.

The ideal candidate will bring a strong technical foundation, including a relevant degree, consolidated experience across network security, development or pre‑sales engineering, and deep knowledge of web applications, cloud platforms, and core internet technologies such as TCP/IP, HTTP, SSL/TLS, APIs, and Linux. They will demonstrate excellent consultative selling skills, outstanding communication and presentation abilities, and hands‑on proficiency with development and scripting languages, containers/Kubernetes, and modern application architectures. Success in this role requires the ability to work effectively with customers and partners, manage complex technical evaluations, prioritise multiple demands, and travel extensively while representing Thales with strong technical credibility.

Building a Future, we can all trust.

Focus on customers and Innovation are two key values at Thales, and they are at the heart of our Strategy, Marketing and Sales teams globally. Digital technologies that play a crucial role in our future, such as AI, Quantum, 6G, Cybersecurity and Neuroscience, account for nearly half of our innovations. Joining Thales means being part of a community driven by passion and the determination to go the extra mile for our customers, to make the world a better place. 

Cybersecurity and Digital Identity (CDI) - from secure software to biometrics and encryption, CDI GBU technologies and services enable businesses and governments to authenticate identities and protect data, so they stay safe and enable services in personal devices, connected objects, the cloud and in between. Cyber Security Products (CSP) business line is helping the most trusted companies and organisations around the world protect critical applications, sensitive data, and identities anywhere at scale. Through our innovative services and integrated platforms, Thales helps customers achieve better visibility of risks, defend against cyber threats, close compliance gaps, and deliver trusted digital experiences for billions of consumers every day.

What we offer you

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package designed to support our employees’ wellbeing and professional growth, which includes:

• Sales Commission Plan

• Pension – match like-for-like up to 7% of annual base salary

• Life Assurance – 2 x base salary minimum (8 x salary if part of the pension scheme)

• Income Protection – 50% of salary less state benefits for 5 years

• Annual Leave – 201 hours, bank holidays, plus 1 company day

• Private Medical Insurance - Couples cover

• 37 hours working week

• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

• 24 hours paid leave for volunteering activities

• Access to flexible benefits and discounts – dental insurance, buying & selling annual leave, cycle to work, and many more

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

• Participate in sales calls and prospect meetings, delivering compelling in‑person and remote demonstrations to technical and business stakeholders

• Drive customer‑centric technical engagement with a proven ability to support revenue growth

• Lead on‑site product evaluations, manage technical requirements for Regional Strategic Accounts, and plan and execute customer pilots

• Collaborate with Account Executives to shape commercial strategy and develop approaches for new business opportunities

• Support partner‑led sales by enabling partner SEs, managing the technical needs of the Regional Strategic Partner Engineering community, and contributing to certification and performance initiatives

• Represent Thales at trade shows and industry events as a technical ambassador

• Maintain strong competitive awareness and clearly articulate Thales’ advantages during partner engagements, training sessions, and RFI/RFP responses

• Create demand‑generation content including webinars, articles, and online posts

• Work closely with Technical Support, Product Management, and Product Development to accelerate issue resolution, provide field insights, and influence product enhancements

About You

At Thales, we are committed to equal opportunities and welcome all talented individuals to consider joining our team. So even if you don't match every statement below but feel you have some of the experience, knowledge or skills needed for this role, we encourage you to apply. It will take all of us working together to deliver solutions to the world’s most critical challenges.

• Demonstrated experience in network security, development, or pre‑sales engineering, including proven success as an experienced Sales Engineer; vendor/start‑up experience preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field

• Proven organisational, prioritisation, interpersonal, and communication skills, with proven ability to confidently deliver technical content to hold effective discovery conversations with customers

• Demonstrated experience with value‑based or consultative sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDIC, SPIN, Value Selling)

• Proven understanding of web applications, security principles, auditing, and firewall/IDS/IPS technologies

• Acquired knowledge of development languages (ASP, .NET, PHP, JSP, NodeJS, Python) and scripting (Python, Bash); automation/RegEx a plus

• Demonstrated familiarity with APIs (REST, SOAP), DNS, TCP/IP, HTTP, load balancers, proxies, and routing/tunnelling protocols (BGP, GRE)

• Proven understanding of SSL/TLS, cryptography, and certificate management

• Demonstrated experience with Linux, containers, Kubernetes, and service mesh (advantageous)

• Proven hands‑on experience with AWS, Azure, and/or GCP; cloud certifications strongly preferred

• Acquired awareness of compliance frameworks (PCI, SOX, HIPAA)

If you’re ready to elevate your impact and work with cutting‑edge security technologies trusted worldwide, we’d love to hear from you!

Security Clearance

Successful candidates will be required to meet Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) requirements, including proof of identity, right to work in the UK, and employment/education history checks.

#LI-VG1

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.

Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!