---
title: 'Senior Sales Engineer at primer.ai'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-sales-engineer-primer-ai-pasadena-4bw0kzh3kmby'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-16'
---

# Senior Sales Engineer at primer.ai

- **Company:** primer.ai
- **Location:** Pasadena, CA / San Francisco, CA / Washington, DC
- **Posted:** 2026-10-12
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/primerai/jobs/8028089003

## Job description

Primer exists to make the world a safer place.  We do this by providing trusted decision-ready AI to the world's most critical organizations.  Our software enables leaders, operators, and analysts to better understand the changing world around us in real time and make informed decisions when the stakes are high.  Primer has offices in San Francisco, Pasadena, CA and Arlington, VA.  For more information, please visit https://primer.ai/

As a Senior Sales Engineer, you’ll be the technical partner to Primer’s go-to-market team. You’ll work closely with Account Executives, Advisors, Partners, and Marketing to find, shape, and win opportunities across government. Your main job is to understand each prospect’s mission: their operational challenges, their workflows, and the outcomes they’re responsible for. Then you’ll show how Primer’s solution applies directly to that mission.

You’ll lead the technical side of the sales cycle, from early discovery through demos, prototypes, and proofs of concept. You’ll turn complex mission requirements into clear, compelling solutions that help customers see and experience Primer’s value before they buy. You can take in new technical concepts quickly and spot obstacles early, so pursuits move forward and our teams stay aligned and credible with government stakeholders.

Role Responsibilities - How You Will Make an Impact

- Enable customers to see the art of the possible by relating Primer’s technical capabilities to mission outcomes.
- Represent the technical voice of the customer within your account team to develop strategies that enhance mission outcomes for our customers.
- Support the ideation and implementation of solutions and feature sets for the customers while partnering with product and engineering to develop and deliver.
- Partner with product and engineering at Primer to identify and prioritize new features and algorithmic development based on customer engagement and feedback.

Relevant Skills and Experience

- 5–7+ years in sales engineering, solutions architecture, or customer-facing technical roles, ideally selling enterprise software or AI solutions into the Intelligence Community
- Direct experience supporting IC agencies and elements, such as CIA, NSA, DIA, NGA, NRO, ODNI, or the military service intelligence components
- Strong understanding of intelligence missions and analytic workflows, including the intelligence cycle, all-source analysis, OSINT, and how analysts collect, process, exploit, and disseminate information
- Experience with how the IC buys technology: acquisition pathways such as OTAs, SBIRs, and IDIQs; contract vehicles; budget and program cycles; and moving capabilities from pilot to enterprise adoption
- Ability to tie analytic and mission outcomes to technical solutions, and to explain how AI improves analyst speed, scale, and confidence while respecting analytic tradecraft standards
- Ability to explain complex AI concepts to analysts, engineers, mission owners, and program leadership

AI and technical knowledge

- Hands-on experience with LLMs and agentic AI, including multi-agent workflows, tool use, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and evaluating agent performance and reliability
- Solid grounding in NLP, including named-entity recognition (NER), entity resolution, and clustering, especially on multilingual and unstructured intelligence data
- Experience with graph databases (e.g., Neo4j) and with building or using knowledge graphs to model entities, relationships, networks, and events
- Experience deploying into IC environments, including classified networks (JWICS, SIPRNet), IC cloud environments (C2E), on-premise, and air-gapped systems
- Experience with Docker and Elastic
- Understanding of IC security and accreditation requirements, including ICD 503, Authority to Operate (ATO) processes, FedRAMP, IL5/6, and FIPS

Preferred Qualifications:

- Active TS/SCI clearance; Full-Scope or CI Polygraph strongly preferred
- Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- Prior service as an intelligence analyst, targeter, or technical officer within the IC or military intelligence

What we offer:

- Rapidly growing company, with opportunities for career growth
- Compensation in the form of Salary + Incentive Stock Options (ISOs)
- Health, Dental, Vision Benefits
- 401K
- Unlimited Paid Time Off
- Smart, engaged co-workers who are at the top of their game
- Honest and open environment for exchange of ideas
- Real customers with global name recognition + healthy sales pipeline
- Proactive learning and teaching opportunities via individual book allowances, tech talks, and brown bag lunches

Primer works closely with the U.S. defense and intelligence establishment. Any offer of employment is conditioned on an applicant or employee being able to meet any applicable government contract requirements. The company may rescind any offer of employment to an applicant or terminate an employee if the applicant or employee is unable to perform the functions of the position in compliance with applicable government contracts or if an applicant or employee makes a false attestation of compliance.

## What We Offer

We are a series D funded company with investors from Addition, USIT, Lux Capital, Amplify Partners, Addition Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and others.  We are intentional around building a diverse and inclusive team of subject matter experts to better advocate for the needs of our users.

We care a lot about our work and about the well being of our team. We encourage everyone to work at a sustainable pace and have a flexible vacation policy for team members to utilize, Wellness Days and 100% paid leave for parents of growing families.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits. This includes full medical, dental, and vision coverage, fertility benefits through Carrot, mental health coverage on demand with Headspace Care+, Gympass+ Membership via Wellhub, One Medical Membership, 401(k), remote work stipends, and monthly internet allowance.

Primer is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. Please see the United States Department of Labor's EEO poster and EEO poster supplement for additional information.

If you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at info@primer.com.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

## About primer.ai

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Primer AI provides mission-ready AI software that helps national security, defense, and intelligence organizations analyze massive amounts of unstructured data to generate traceable, actionable intelligence.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series C, $110M raised in 2021)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States (with offices in Pasadena, CA and Washington D.C.)
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: National security / defense / intelligence – AI-powered data analysis
- **Target Customers**: Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, federal civilian agencies (B2G / mission-critical)
- **Mission Statement**: "Accelerate human understanding, turning unlimited amounts of data into actionable intelligence you can use to make decisions faster and with more confidence." [primer.ai](https://primer.ai/company/about)

## Products & Services
- **[Primer API](https://primer.ai/)**: Embed Primer’s analytic capabilities (advanced search, extraction, AI-assisted analysis, claim-level verification, source-grounded summaries) directly into existing systems and workflows. Type: API / SaaS integration.
- **[Primer Enterprise](https://www.primer.ai/technology)**: Secure AI platform for analysts in IC, Defense, and civilian agencies. Ingests fragmented reports, proprietary data, and open-source information; outputs structured, traceable insight with fine-grained access control. Type: On-premise / air-gapped deployable platform.
- **[Primer Command](https://primer.ai/)**: AI-powered monitoring platform for real-time visibility into global news and social media. Tracks narratives, emerging threats, and shifts in the information environment. Type: SaaS monitoring tool.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Annual revenue of **$26.5M** (estimated, from LinkedIn) | Total funding **$237M** across 7 rounds [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/primer-ai)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lux Capital (led Series B), DCVC (led venture round), Addition (Lee Fixel), Peter Tague, and others including USIT. Federal Advisory Board includes retired senior military and intelligence leaders (e.g., former Director DIA, former Deputy Commander USSOCOM, former DDNI). [primer.ai](https://primer.ai/company/about)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Employees: 93 as of mid-2026 (down ~9.5% YoY)
  - International presence: offices/satellite in Singapore, Germany, UK, New Zealand
  - Acquired Yonder (2022) and LightTag (2022) to strengthen capabilities
  - Active job postings in Germany, Singapore, and US (Forward Deployed Engineer, Technical Delivery Manager)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deployment-first design**: Purpose-built for secure enclaves, air-gapped networks, tactical edge, and DDIL environments – not an afterthought.
- **Multi-model architecture**: Combines specialized ML models (embedding, fine-tuned LMs, classifiers) with external LLMs, avoiding vendor lock-in and reducing computational cost.
- **Traceable outputs**: Every analytic statement is source-grounded, with claim-level verification and human-in-the-loop (HITL) for defensible decisions.
- **Trusted by mission operators**: Advisory board features retired senior military/intelligence officers; deployed inside IC and DoD for years.
- **Unstructured data focus**: Precomputes entities, claims, and relationships from messy real-world text, enabling fast search and analysis without reprocessing.

## Strategic Focus
- **Deepen government partnerships**: Continue embedding AI into intelligence, defense, and civilian agency workflows.
- **International expansion**: Hiring forward deployed engineers in Germany and Singapore to support global missions.
- **API-first growth**: Allow other critical systems to integrate Primer’s capabilities, making AI analysis a plug-in rather than a standalone product.
- **Continued investment in trustworthy AI**: Emphasize traceability, access controls, and human oversight to maintain customer trust.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture highlights**: “Mission first,” “Take ownership,” “Constantly curious,” and “Always human.” Values autonomy, diversity of experience, and risk-taking. [primer.ai](https://primer.ai/company/careers)
- **Work policy**: Flexible time off (unlimited), 12 paid holidays, home-office stipend for all new hires, mobile/internet reimbursement. Offices in SF, Pasadena, and DC – roles may be hybrid or remote-eligible depending on clearance needs.
- **Parental leave**: Birthing parents get 18 weeks fully paid; non-birthing parents get 8 weeks. Also covers IVF and egg freezing. [primer.ai](https://primer.ai/company/careers)
- **Compensation**: Competitive salaries plus equity; 401K; premium medical, dental, vision, life insurance; wellness and mental health support.
- **Engineering culture**: Engineers work on high-stakes, real-world AI deployment in national security. Tools include multi-model orchestration, fine-grained access control, and deployment in secure environments. “Move fast and make a difference.”
- **Team diversity**: Employee resource groups (Primer Veterans, Women of Primer, Pets of Primer); weekly win celebrations; interest groups.

## Sources
1. [primer.ai](https://primer.ai/) – Main website (product overview, mission)
2. [primer.ai/company/about](https://primer.ai/company/about) – Leadership, board, advisory members, office locations
3. [primer.ai/company/careers](https://primer.ai/company/careers) – Culture, benefits, values, open roles
4. [primer.ai/technology](https://www.primer.ai/technology) – Technology deep-dive: multi-model architecture, claims extraction, NER, access control
5. [linkedin.com/company/primer-ai](https://www.linkedin.com/company/primer-ai) – Employee count, revenue estimate, funding history, salary ranges, alumni

## Other roles at primer.ai

- [Staff Security Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-security-engineer-primer-ai-pasadena-bpt6bfc1t5ja) — Pasadena, CA / San Francisco, CA / Washington, DC
- [Staff Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-machine-learning-engineer-primer-ai-pasadena-wqr7sykwp0y5) — Pasadena, CA / San Francisco, CA / Washington, DC
- [Senior Forward Deployed Engineer, Germany](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-forward-deployed-engineer-germany-primer-ai-remote-pzqgwr8bw8t6)
- [Senior Technical Delivery Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-delivery-manager-primer-ai-san-francisco-acxbvc1bcv69) — San Francisco, CA / Washington, DC
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