Principal Partner Solutions Architect
Cockroach Labs is hiring a Principal Partner Solutions Architect in New York and San Mateo, United States. It pays $188k-$210k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Cockroach Labs.
Level's read on this job
- On Level's scale, this solutions architect role is Works on AI ●●●○: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- Pay on this posting starts 12% higher than the typical solutions architect posting on Level.
- The posting mentions ChatGPT, Claude and Anthropic among its tools and skills.
- Level classes it as a lead role.
- Cockroach Labs has 11 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
Principal partner solutions architect driving integrations and GTM strategy for AI-focused infrastructure and agentic applications.
For more than a decade, Cockroach Labs has built database technology trusted to power some of the world's most mission-critical applications. Now, as AI transforms how software is created and operated, the infrastructure behind it has to keep pace. Cockroach Continuum is built to meet this moment, bringing individual databases together into one fleet designed for agentic applications, where AI agents help teams provision, scale, and optimize workloads at machine speed.
The customers you’ll work with are some of the most innovative businesses in the world, and the problems they’re trying to solve are real and urgent. You’ll bring a genuinely differentiated product to a market moving fast, at a company positioned to lead it. The people who thrive here are the ones who want to own that opportunity.
The Role
The Global Partnerships org is building an ecosystem motion that genuinely multiplies CockroachDB's market reach — and the results are already showing. In the past year alone, the team launched the ISV Technology Partner Program, shipped live integrations with LangChain, Anthropic Claude Code, Confluent, and Datadog, deepened a global IBM OEM relationship that reaches regulated enterprise accounts no direct sales team can access alone, and launched the CockroachDB Integrations Hub. Our AWS Strategic Collaboration Agreement is evolving into a systematic AI ISV acquisition engine, with early traction from AI-native companies.
As Principal Solutions Architect for the Americas partner team, you'll be the technical authority across our Cloud, ISV, OEM, and GSI partner motions in the Americas — combining deep technical credibility with proactive strategic leadership. You'll own your domain end-to-end: identifying integration opportunities before they're requested, building and certifying assets, shaping GTM narratives, enabling partners, and driving real pipeline influence. This is a builder role — you set the agenda.
You Will
- Formulate and execute technical partner strategy and GTM plans in close collaboration with your Business Development counterparts.
- Develop and deliver a full content arsenal — executive GTM presentations, thought leadership white papers, technical blogs, joint customer case studies, webinars, and conference talks — as well as integration walkthrough videos, quickstart demos, and co-marketing launch packages executed hand-in-hand with partner marketing teams to turn technical integrations into measurable developer adoption and pipeline.
- Act as the trusted technical advisor and strategic partner to Americas-based Cloud, ISV, OEM, and GSI partners during discovery and opportunity identification phase.
- Lead architectural discussions, design exercises, and integration planning across all levels of partner and customer organizations, from developer teams to C-suite executives
- Support POCs and technical validation for internal teams relating to partner solutions and cockroachDB.
- Lead deep technical conversations with Internal and external stakeholders engineering - provide guidance on architecture, deployment patterns, migration strategies, and integration design while adapting technical depth and messaging to the audience and scenario
- Build and publish reusable technical assets — validated architectures, integration SDKs, reference implementations, GitHub repos, and proof-of-concept applications — that the broader field and partner ecosystem can leverage; amplify each integration launch with co-marketing assets including integration quickstart guides, partner badge programs, and developer community presence on the platforms where builders actually spend their time
- Use AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, ChatGPT) as part of your daily workflow to compress reactive support work, generate content, automate reporting, and accelerate asset creation
The Expectations
In your first 30 days, you will learn about CockroachDB and become proficient in the product and our AI-native tooling stack. You will onboard the Americas partner landscape, meet key BDs and partners, and understand the active pipeline and strategic priorities for the region.
By the end of your first 90 days, you will have effectively onboarded onto Americas regional coverage, shipped 1+ reusable technical assets (repo, validated architecture, or demo), integrated AI tools into your daily workflow, and received positive BD feedback on your technical leadership in partner conversations. You should have your first ecosystem integration contribution scoped or in progress, and be operating with structured autonomy — owning your priorities, coming with plans, and shipping weekly.
You Have
- 10+ years in pre-sales, solutions architecture, partner engineering, or technical consulting roles within the cloud technology space
- A visible body of published technical work and GTM content — repos, white papers, blogs, validated architectures, reference implementations, presentation decks, and thought leadership materials — that establishes your credibility in the field
- Comfort speaking in front of groups for presentations, webinars, talks, both internally and externally
- Deep understanding of cloud ecosystems, with hands-on experience in at least one of AWS, GCP, or Azure — their architecture paradigms, partnership programs, marketplace mechanics, and co-sell motions
- Strong hands-on technical skills — you can build demos, write code, design architectures, and run POCs. You are not purely a slide-and-talk SA
- Experience with relational databases, distributed systems, and/or SQL — knowledge of PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, or distributed SQL is a strong plus
- Demonstrated track record of presenting to and influencing diverse stakeholders — from hands-on architects and engineering leads to VPs, CTOs, and partner executive sponsors — with the technical credibility to command a room and the versatility to adapt narrative, depth, and delivery format to any audience
- Proficiency with AI-assisted tools and workflows — you currently use AI tools (Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, or similar) in your work and see AI as an accelerator, not a novelty
- Strong business acumen — you understand partner economics, marketplace dynamics, and how technical work connects to pipeline and revenue
- Self-directed and initiative-driven — you identify priorities, create plans, and execute without waiting to be told what to do
- Strong public speaking and presentation skills — you have presented at conferences, partner summits, executive briefings, or industry events and can point to a body of work (talks, webinars, blogs, video content, published writing) that demonstrates your technical credibility and thought leadership; you are comfortable on camera, capable of creating compelling recorded demos and integration walkthroughs, and you know how to build authentic developer presence on the platforms where technical audiences actually spend time
- Ability to travel as needed for partner events, customer meetings, and conferences
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)$188,000—$210,000 USDHow we rate this
Principal Partner Solutions Architect at Cockroach Labs rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in solutions architect jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $188k
- Typical solutions architect job
- $169k
This posting starts 12% above the typical solutions architect job. See solutions architect jobs
Questions you could be asked
- How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
- Tell me about a project where solutions architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where partner strategy was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where cloud infrastructure was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where database management was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents, Solutions Architecture, Partner Strategy, Cloud Infrastructure, and Database Management. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
Want an expert to read your CV for this job?
Free. Send your CV and the role you want next. You get your review by email within 24 hours.
Get new solutions architect jobs (Works on AI ●●●○ or higher) by email
One email a week with the new solutions architect jobs (Works on AI ●●●○ or higher), each rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.
Free. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click.
Similar roles
Sales roles that work on AI, at other companies.
What kind of AI work fits you?
Answer 12 practical questions in about three minutes. Get a simple profile, the work it points to, and live roles to explore next.
Find my next step