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Vibin Kishore - Tech Leader
[ SYSTEM ERROR ]
ERROR_CODE: 0x3E1F_ACCESS_DENIED
├─ Authentication failed
├─ Retry attempt 3/5
└─ SYSTEM_OVERRIDE: ENABLED
root@ctOS:~$
> sudo access --level=ADMIN
[AUTHORIZED]
> building_systems.sh --execute
[ NETWORK_STATUS ]
CONNECTION: ENCRYPTED
LATENCY: 12ms
THREAT_LEVEL: NULL
> access_memory(architect)
Reading: frameworks.db
STATUS: INNOVATING
0x4A3F 0x9B21 0xC4D7
0x1E8A 0x7F33 0xB5C2
[ 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 10 Solutions Engineers (including experts/SMEs) for the Shared Technical Services (STS) function at Confluent's Global Scale Team, across the Americas. 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

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
+4
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
+1
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
+2
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
+1
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

Manager, Solutions Engineering @ Confluent

July 2026 - Present

0 months

Kafka
Flink
LangChain
Gemini
+5
  • →Promoted to lead Specialized Technical Services (STS) across the Americas, owning organization strategy, people leadership, stakeholder management, and operational excellence post-IBM acquisition
  • →People Leadership: 10 Solutions Engineers across AMER, driving catalog strategy, team performance, and business stakeholder relationships across 5 business units

Team Lead, Solutions Engineering @ Confluent

January 2025 - June 2026

18 months

Kafka
Flink
Confluent Cloud
KsqlDB
+2
  • →STS Pod Model: Designed the STS Pod model — 3 business-unit-aligned pods with dedicated SPOCs embedded into forecast calls and account planning — driving ~35% growth in request volume within 3-6 months
  • →Service Catalog: Revamped the global STS service catalog from metric-driven to outcome-driven as sole designer; launched simultaneously across AMER, APAC & EMEA using 3 years of SFDC data, AI-powered case analysis, and director-level field interviews

Solutions Engineer @ Confluent

February 2023 - January 2025

1 year 11 months

Apache Kafka
Confluent Cloud
Kafka Connect
Cluster Linking
+5
  • →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
S3
Lambda
+4
  • →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
+1
  • →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)
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
Docker

AI & Automation

LLM Integration
Conversational AI
AI-powered Data Analysis
NLP Workflow Automation
Prompt Engineering
GCP/BigQuery Pipelines
Agentic Workflow Design

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

Top Performer Award

Zilingo

2022

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 Administrator for Apache Kafka

Confluent

April 2025
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

Email
vibinkishore.h@gmail.com
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/vibinkishore
Phone
+91 8883343999
Resume
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