Keith Koster

Solutions Engineering Leader | Enterprise AI & Cloud Security | Technical GTM for Hyperscaler & Fortune 100 Accounts | Palo Alto Networks

San Francisco3.3k followers

Palo Alto Networks

ex-Quilt

ex-Lacework

I came up through the customer side, support, then customer success, before I ever led a pre-sales team. That path taught me something most pre-sales leaders learn late: the deal isn't won at signature.
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It's won months later, when the customer is live and getting real value. I build the teams and systems that get them At Sumo Logic, I grew the solutions engineering org from a handful of people to a Senior Director's seat. The work I'm proudest of isn't the title. It's Sumo Dojo, a 16,000-member customer community I built that became our strongest engine for proofs of concept, and that ran without me in the room. That's the throughline: build things that make the team and the customer better, whether I'm there or not. I build open-source AI tooling and run a private LLM stack, because the fastest way to understand where AI creates value is to build with The other half of the job is people. I'm at my best spotting talent before it's obvious and pulling people up before they'd back themselves. I've moved SEs from mid-market to enterprise, built associate-to-principal frameworks, and watched people I coached go on to run their own teams. Plenty of that mentoring happens outside my own org, too, helping people find their way into solutions engineering or get unblocked on the next step in their careers. The feedback that's stuck with me over the years keeps pointing to the same strengths: connection, ideation, and leadership that make people want to do their best Today, I lead Solutions Consulting at Palo Alto Networks across hyperscaler and Fortune 100 accounts, where GTM strategy, executive relationships, and the development of the next layer of leaders all move in tandem across cloud and AI security. Having run both pre-sales solutions engineering and post-sales customer success as separate orgs at scale is rare, and it's why I think in terms of the whole customer motion, not a single slice. My best work now isn't any single deal. It's the people on my team earning promotions, and the playbooks that outlast all of I'm most interested in solutions and pre-sales leadership at companies building at the intersection of AI and security, the kind of place where the people leading technical teams still build things themselves.

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GTM Index

PALO ALTO NETWORKSJOB
1. Solutions Consulting Leader
  1Y
2. Solutions Architecture Lea…
  1Y 11M
QUILTJOB
1. GTM Advisor Quilt (acquire…
  2Y 3M
LACEWORKJOB
1. Dir, Sales Eng, Americas
  1Y 2M
SUMO LOGICJOB
1. Senior Dir, Sales Eng
  3M
2. Dir, Sales Eng
  1Y 9M
3. Senior Mgr, Sales Eng
  2Y 7M
4. Mgr, Sales Eng
  10M
5. Mgr, Customer Success - St…
  11M
6. Customer Success Mgr
  6M
7. Sr. Technical Support Eng
  7M
APTEANJOB
1. Mgr, Technical Support
  2Y 2M
2. Sr. Technical Support Eng
  2Y 11M
SUPPORTSOFTJOB
1. Senior Technical Support Eng
  2Y 10M
SUPPORTSOFT,JOB
1. Professional Services Cons…
  2Y 11M
2. QA Eng / Web Developer
  2Y
US ARMYJOB
1. Security Specialist
  2Y 1M

Job: Palo Alto Networks — Solutions Consulting Leader · 2025-08 – present — • Leading Strategic GTM: Driving go-to-market strategies for the full PANW portfolio, partnering with cross-functional teams to secure our most strategic accounts. • Building a High-Impact Team: Mentoring and scaling a team of elite Solutions Consultants to deliver measurable business outcomes for Fortune 500 clients.
Job: Palo Alto Networks — Solutions Architecture Leader, Cloud · 2023-09 – 2025-08 — • Drove Strategic Growth: Led architectural strategies to expand cloud security adoption, achieving measurable ARR growth across Fortune 500 accounts. • Delivered Innovative Solutions: Partnered with Sales, Product, and Engineering to deliver CNAPP and other advanced solutions, accelerating customer adoption and securing high-value deals. • Scaled Efficiency with AI: Designed and deployed an AI-powered RFP response framework, cutting response time by 90% and boosting team efficiency. • Fostered Customer Success: Collaborated with cross-functional teams to create tailored strategies for over 40 accounts, ensuring long-term retention and satisfaction. • Advocated for Inclusion: Mentored d…
Job: Quilt — GTM Advisor Quilt (acquired by Rox, 2025) · 2023-06 – 2025-09 — ➤ Partnered with the CEO and Founder to define go-to-market strategies, engaging with industry leaders to position the company as an AI-driven innovator. ➤ Led design partnerships to refine product-market fit, leveraging insights from influential stakeholders to optimize adoption and impact. ➤ Spearheaded RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) model tuning initiatives, ensuring enterprise-ready AI solutions tailored to customer needs. ➤ Advised the company from inception through Series A and its 2025 acquisition by Rox, driving strategic alignment and scaling.
Job: Lacework — Director, Sales Engineering, Americas · 2022-02 – 2023-04 — ➤ Empowered High-Performance Teams: Equipped sales engineers with cutting-edge tools, an agile mindset, and streamlined processes to drive success at scale. ➤ Fostered a Learning Culture: Championed a "fail fast, learn faster" approach, encouraging innovation and rapid skill development across the team. ➤ Developed Future Leaders: Mentored and coached new Sales Engineers and emerging SE leaders, building a pipeline of top-tier talent to sustain organizational growth. ➤ Reinforced Trust Amid Change: Navigated multiple restructuring events with transparency and empathy, preserving team morale and trust during challenging transitions.
Job: Sumo Logic — Senior Director, Sales Engineering · 2021-11 – 2022-02 — ➤ Strategic Influence During IPO Transition: Played a key leadership role as Sumo Logic navigated its IPO, ensuring the sales engineering function aligned with the company’s evolving business objectives and market positioning. ➤ Optimized Technical Sales Strategy: I oversaw critical initiatives, including aligning Demo Systems & Tools, the Technical Architect Team, and the GTM (Go-to-Market) Tech Sales Strategy to enhance scalability and pre-sales effectiveness. ➤ Elevated Pre-Sales Enablement: Revamped demo systems and tools to better articulate the platform's value proposition, empowering teams to secure high-value enterprise deals. ➤ Cross-functional leadership: Collaborated with Sale…
Job: Sumo Logic — Director, Sales Engineering · 2020-02 – 2021-11 — ➤ Operational Excellence: Designed and implemented a Demos, Tools, & Automation Program, ensuring zero-day knowledge transfer for 400+ internal users with 99.97% SLA compliance on Kubernetes-powered demo environments. ➤ Driving Collaboration: Partnered with Product teams to influence roadmap priorities, ensuring alignment with enterprise customer needs. ➤ Community Building: Launched "Sumo Dojo," a Slack-based technical community with 16,000+ members and 1,600 daily active users, providing vital POC support and enabling faster deal cycles. ➤ Content Innovation: Created a scalable content repository that saved $76K in search time and reduced new content development costs by over $100K in…
Job: Sumo Logic — Senior Manager, Sales Engineering · 2017-07 – 2020-02 — ➤ Team Stabilization: Restructured and stabilized a high-pressure sales engineering team, improving hiring processes, morale, and performance. ➤ Delivering Results: Achieved 120% quota attainment while ensuring seamless customer onboarding and satisfaction, earning recognition with President’s Club honors. ➤ Career Pathing: Developed clear career progression frameworks, including transitioning team members from Mid-Market to Enterprise roles.
Job: Sumo Logic — Manager, Sales Engineering · 2016-09 – 2017-07 — ➤ Built a World-Class Team: Recruited, developed, and led a high-performing team of sales engineers, specializing in big data and analytics solutions for enterprise customers. ➤ Driving Enterprise Success: Played a critical role in over 80% of new logo sales cycles, delivering tailored technical solutions that addressed customer needs and secured multimillion-dollar deals. ➤ Scalable Processes: Designed and implemented scalable pre-sales frameworks, optimizing team operations and ensuring alignment with enterprise sales objectives. ➤ Cross-functional collaboration: Partnered with Product and Marketing teams to refine go-to-market strategies, providing valuable customer insights to shape…
Job: Sumo Logic — Manager, Customer Success - Strategic Accounts · 2015-10 – 2016-09 — ➤ Customer Success Leadership: Owned $20M+ ARR across strategic accounts, driving adoption of mission-critical analytics and achieving measurable ROI. ➤ Proactive Engagement: Increased NPS by 128% through data-driven strategies, health check automation, and KPI implementation. ➤ C-Level Advocacy: Strengthened relationships with enterprise customers at the executive level, reducing churn and driving product adoption. ➤ Product Impact: Partnered with Product teams to develop the first Feature Request portal, enhancing visibility and alignment between customer needs and development priorities.
Job: Sumo Logic — Customer Success Manager · 2015-04 – 2015-10 — ➤ Enhanced Product Adoption: Proactively engaged with customers to drive adoption of advanced analytics features, ensuring they realized the full value of the platform. ➤ Simplified Technical Concepts: Demystified complex product capabilities for diverse stakeholders, empowering end users to maximize productivity and streamline workflows. ➤ Optimized Search Performance: Identified and resolved key usability challenges, improving platform efficiency and customer satisfaction across high-value accounts. ➤ Data-Driven Engagement: Leveraged customer feedback to identify pain points, implement solutions, and deliver actionable insights, fostering long-term client success.
Job: Sumo Logic — Sr. Technical Support Engineer · 2014-09 – 2015-04 — ➤ Resolved High-Impact Issues: Closed over 600 support cases with a 100% CSAT score, showcasing technical expertise and a commitment to exceptional customer service. ➤ Bridged Support and Success: Collaborated with Customer Success teams to address critical challenges, enabling seamless transitions for high-value accounts. ➤ Rapid Onboarding: Quickly ramped up to fill a critical coverage gap, demonstrating adaptability and technical mastery in a fast-paced environment. ➤ Enhanced Customer Experience: Simplified complex technical issues to ensure customer satisfaction, driving long-term product adoption and loyalty.
Job: Aptean — Manager, Technical Support · 2012-06 – 2014-08 — ➤ Key Role During M&A Transition: Transitioned seamlessly into Aptean following its merger with Consona and CDC Software, becoming a pivotal resource for SupportSoft’s CRM suite, including real-time chat, knowledge-base management, and client interaction tools. ➤ Thought Leadership: Selected by the VP of Customer Support to present on critical topics such as issue ownership, proactive service, team collaboration, and leveraging customer knowledge to improve outcomes. ➤ Client-Focused Problem Solving: Collaborated directly with top client-side administrators to troubleshoot SupportSoft’s 6.5 Product Suite, saving enterprise clients significant customer service expenses. ➤ Strategic Impact…
Job: Aptean — Sr. Technical Support Engineer · 2009-07 – 2012-06 — ➤ Global Collaboration: Mentored a new India-based support team, providing expertise in SQL scripting, network analysis, and customer service while fostering cohesive teamwork and knowledge sharing. ➤ Process Optimization: Led the reduction of an 800-ticket backlog by 50% by identifying systemic issues, delegating tickets to SMEs, and streamlining escalations. ➤ Award-Winning Performance: Earned the Global Technical Support Star Group Award and Individual Award (2008) for exceptional problem resolution and customer satisfaction.
Job: SupportSoft Inc. — Senior Technical Support Engineer · 2006-09 – 2009-07 — ➤ Enterprise Implementation Expert: Delivered custom post-sales solutions (design, testing, training, support) for leading digital service providers, ensuring seamless integration and adoption. ➤ Leadership in Cross-Cultural Teams: Bridged cultural differences to enable collaboration and workload sharing across global support teams, improving resolution times and operational efficiency. ➤ Efficiency Leadership: Took ownership of backlogged tickets, reducing response delays and delivering better outcomes for enterprise clients.
Job: SupportSoft, Inc. — Professional Services Consultant · 2003-10 – 2006-09 — ➤ Tailored Enterprise Solutions: Executed large-scale, custom implementation projects for high-profile clients, including EDS/US Navy, Charter, and Comcast Communications. ➤ Customer-Centric Success: Designed and deployed technical solutions that addressed client-specific challenges while ensuring operational efficiency and long-term reliability.
Job: US Army — Security Specialist · 2001-10 – 2003-11 — ➤ Technical Training and Security Operations: Provided system administration and technical training during the Iraq War, earning NACLC Secret Security Clearance. ➤ Streamlined Clearance Processing: Coached enlisted personnel on processing security clearances, reducing filing times by 50%. ➤ Technology Leadership: Co-trained staff on access control and the functionality of a 34-camera digital surveillance system, ensuring operational readiness and compliance.
Job: SupportSoft, Inc. — QA Engineer / Web Developer · 1999-06 – 2001-06 — ➤ Technical Innovation: Designed, launched, and managed Support.com’s internal SalesConnect website, enabling real-time collaboration among sales staff. ➤ Cross-Platform QA Expertise: Conducted rigorous testing of proprietary software across Windows-based platforms, ensuring seamless integration with Sony VAIO systems.

Skills

MakeSolutions EngineeringSales EngineeringSolutions ConsultingSales Engineering ManagementSolutions ArchitectureStaff RetentionRecruitingEasily AdaptableTechnical WritingCustomer SuccessRetrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Software as a Service (SaaS)Cross-functional Team LeadershipTime ManagementCritical ThinkingProblem SolvingEmotional IntelligenceConflict ResolutionNegotiationPublic Speaking

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Keith Koster

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