Vibin Kishore | Manager, Solutions Engineering

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└─ SYSTEM_OVERRIDE: ENABLED

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[AUTHORIZED]

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[ NETWORK_STATUS ]

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> access_memory(architect)

Reading: frameworks.db

STATUS: INNOVATING

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[ NO SIGNAL ]

RECONNECTING...

Building Pre-Sales Teams That Scale

Kafka, Flink, AI & Real-Time Streaming | Pre-Sales & GTM | Leadership MVP

About Me

I don't just run a team — I build the systems, frameworks, and tools that make the team scale.

Currently managing 14 Solutions Engineers for the Shared Technical Services (STS) function at Confluent's Global Scale Team, across AMER (9) and EMEA (5). My work sits at the intersection of deep technical expertise and measurable business impact.

Over the past 3 years at Confluent, I've built frameworks and systems from scratch that delivered measurable impact: 75% reduction in ramp-time, 200% renewal uplift, 35% cost savings, and company-wide adoption of multiple initiatives.

I'm especially passionate about enablement, systems thinking, and building presales frameworks that elevate teams and accelerate customer adoption.

Location

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Open to Relocation

Current Role

Manager, Solutions Engineering

Lead / Manager, Solutions Engineering @ Confluent

Coverage

AMER (9)

EMEA (5)

Key Highlights

Leadership MVP — Confluent Q3 2025
STS Trailblazer — Confluent Q3 2024
Built 27-person team from scratch in one quarter
Created 5 company-wide adopted frameworks

Innovation Showcase

Frameworks, systems, and tools built from scratch that delivered measurable business impact

Framework

Propel Onboarding Framework

"Transforming new-hire ramp-up from chaos to structure"

Impact

75%↓ Ramp-time

5 months → 60 days

A 12-week structured onboarding framework with four phases (Foundation, Learning, Application, Guidance), mentor pairing, blended assignments, and a final checkride panel. Designed to systematically accelerate new Solutions Engineers from hire to full productivity.

Tech Stack

Learning & Development

Mentorship Programs

Competency Frameworks

Knowledge Management

Scale

5 batches, ~35 SEs onboarded, adopted company-wide across CSG organization

Automation

Scale Billing Bot

"AI-powered cost optimization for cloud infrastructure"

Impact

35%↓ Billing Costs

Company-wide rollout requested

An AI-powered Slack bot that monitors Confluent Cloud spend in real-time, identifies optimization opportunities, and automates cleanup workflows. Built with LangChain, Gemini, Claude API, and GCP/BigQuery integration.

Tech Stack

LangChain

Gemini

Claude API

GCP

Scale

Piloted with STS team, achieved 35% cost reduction, now requested for company-wide deployment

Strategy

STS Pods Model

"Embedding dedicated support into every business unit"

Impact

~35%↑ Request Volume

Growth within 3-6 months

A scalable stakeholder management model that embeds 3 dedicated SPOCs (Single Points of Contact) into each of 5 business units. Pods attend meetings, forecast calls, and account planning sessions, creating relationship continuity and eliminating the randomness of SE assignment.

Tech Stack

Stakeholder Management

Service Design

Organizational Structure

Account Planning

Scale

5 business units, AMER & EMEA coverage, 14 SEs organized into pods

Strategy

Workload Analysis Workshop

"Unlocking hidden value in existing customer accounts"

Impact

200%↑ Renewal Uplift

Influenced Compass program

A self-initiated virtual account intelligence program that analyzes customer workloads to identify expansion opportunities and new use cases. Combines data analysis, customer interviews, and technical deep-dives to deliver actionable recommendations.

Tech Stack

Account Intelligence

Data Analysis

Customer Discovery

Use Case Mapping

Scale

25+ customers, 200%+ renewal uplift on handpicked accounts, 2-3 new use cases per account

Automation

STS Case Intake Bot

"Eliminating friction from service request creation"

Impact

1,500+ Cases/Month

Projected at full rollout

A Slack-native LLM tool that classifies field requests, automatically looks up Salesforce accounts and opportunities, and creates fully-populated SFDC cases — eliminating the manual SFDC entry barrier that previously prevented field teams from engaging STS.

Tech Stack

LLM

Slack API

Salesforce API

NLP

Scale

Live in AMER, projected 1,500+ cases/month at full rollout across all regions

Team Building

CSC Team Build

"Building a 27-person team from scratch in one quarter"

Impact

27 Headcount

3 managers + 24 ICs in one quarter

Co-built a Customer Solutions Consultant team from zero to 27 people in a single quarter. Solved a zero-persona hiring challenge by creatively targeting TAMs from MongoDB. Designed and ran 4-round panel interviews with joint final decision authority. Ramped all hires in 6-8 weeks using compressed Propel framework.

Tech Stack

Hiring Strategy

Panel Interviews

Talent Acquisition

Onboarding

Scale

27 people (3 managers + 24 ICs) hired and ramped in one quarter

6 major frameworks built from scratch

Adopted company-wide • Influenced industry programs • Measurable ROI

Experience

Lead / Manager, Solutions Engineering @ Confluent

July 2025 - Present

11 months

Kafka

Flink

LangChain

Gemini

→Managing 14 Solutions Engineers across AMER (9) and EMEA (5), owning the STS catalog strategy, team performance, and stakeholder relationships across 5 business units
→STS Pod Model: Designed a pod-based stakeholder structure with 3 dedicated SPOCs embedded into each business unit — driving ~35% growth in request volume within 3-6 months

Team Lead, Solutions Engineering @ Confluent

October 2024 - June 2025

9 months

Kafka

Flink

Confluent Cloud

KsqlDB

→Propel Onboarding Framework: Designed a 12-week structured program cutting new-hire ramp-up from 5 months to 60 days across 5 batches (~35 SEs), later expanded company-wide
→CSC Team Build: Co-built a 27-person Customer Solutions Consultant team from scratch in one quarter (3 managers + 24 ICs), solving a zero-persona hiring challenge

Solutions Engineer @ Confluent

February 2023 - March 2025

2 years 2 months

Apache Kafka

Confluent Cloud

Kafka Connect

Cluster Linking

→Delivered 200+ Confluent Cloud and Platform demos and Kafka 101 sessions to customers and prospects across the AMER region
→Drove POC implementations for enterprise and commercial pre-sales accounts — leading scoping, architecture reviews, and production readiness assessments

Implementation Engineer (Integrations) @ Observe.AI

January 2022 - February 2023

1 year 2 months

AWS

EC2

Lambda

→Led end-to-end pre-sales implementation lifecycle: customer discovery, data normalisation, and Proof of Value (POV) integration builds via API-based scripting
→Worked extensively with AWS services: EC2, S3, Lambda, CloudWatch, and API Gateway

Solutions Engineer - Global @ Zilingo

January 2020 - January 2022

2 years 1 month

Enterprise Software

SaaS

Project Management

→Led ZFactory enterprise software deployments, customer training, and UAT sign-offs across the South India region
→Managed configuration requests, production bugs, and large-scale factory rollouts

Lead Project Engineer & Editor in Chief @ Techvile

January 2019 - January 2020

1 year 1 month

Web Development

Mobile Apps

Facebook Ads

Google Ads

→Delivered 12 professional websites and mobile applications
→Achieved ROAS of 5.6+ through Facebook and Google Ads campaigns

Skills & Expertise

Leadership & Management

Team Management (AMER/EMEA)

Pre-Sales Engineering Leadership

POC Delivery & Execution

Onboarding Program Design

Hiring at Scale

Escalation Management

Service Catalog Design

GTM Motion

Stakeholder Strategy

Cross-functional Collaboration

Technical Skills

Apache Kafka

Apache Flink

Confluent Cloud & Platform

KsqlDB

Kafka Streams

Schema Registry

Kafka Connect

Terraform

AWS

Python

Salesforce

GCP

Redis

BigQuery

AI & Automation

LLM Integration

Conversational AI

AI-powered Data Analysis

NLP Workflow Automation

Prompt Engineering

GCP/BigQuery Pipelines

Business & Strategy

Business Process Improvement

Account Intelligence

Customer Discovery

RFP/Security Questionnaires

Technical Success Planning

Go-to-Market Strategy

Awards & Certifications

Awards & Recognition

Leadership MVP

Confluent

Q3 2025

STS Trailblazer

Confluent

Q3 2024

2nd Rank - Subject Topper

NMIMS

2022

Best Outgoing Student

Dr. N.G.P. Institute of Technology

2020

Professional Certifications

cloud

AWS Certified Solutions Architect

Amazon Web Services

May 2025

HashiCorp Terraform Associate

HashiCorp

October 2024

streaming

Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka (CCDAK)

Confluent

November 2023

Confluent Certified Developer for Apache Kafka (CCDAK)

Confluent

April 2025

Re-certified

Cloud Streaming Flink Engineer

Confluent

2025

Data Streaming Engineer

Confluent

December 2024

Data Streaming Engineer

Confluent

April 2025

Re-certified

Confluent Cloud Operator

Confluent

2025

Apache Kafka Fundamentals

Confluent

2023

programming

Python Programming

Certified

2022

professional

Data Privacy and Security (US)

Certified

2023

International Association for Engineers (IAENG)

IAENG

2020

Let's Work Together

vibinkishore.h@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/vibinkishore