Demo Engineer Manager

Cresta is on a mission to turn every customer conversation into a competitive advantage by unlocking the true potential of the contact center. Our platform combines the best of AI and human intelligence to help contact centers discover customer insights and behavioral best practices, automate conversations and inefficient processes, and empower every team member to work smarter and faster. Born from the prestigious Stanford AI lab, Cresta's co-founder and chairman is Sebastian Thrun, the genius behind Google X, Waymo, Udacity, and more. Our leadership also includes CEO, Ping Wu, the co-founder of Google Contact Center AI and Vertex AI platform, and co-founder, Tim Shi, an early member of Open AI.

We’ve assembled a world-class team of AI and ML experts, go-to-market leaders, and top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Sequoia, and former AT&T CEO John Donovan. Our valued customers include brands like Intuit, Cox Communications, Hilton, and Carmax and we’ve been recognized by Forbes and Bain Consulting as one of the top private AI companies in the world.

Join us on this thrilling journey to revolutionize the workforce with AI. The future of work is here, and it's at Cresta.

About the Role

As the Demo Engineering Manager at Cresta, you will lead a high-impact team responsible for bringing our AI-powered platform to life in pre-sales environments. This includes overseeing the development of scalable demo infrastructure and tooling, building rich out-of-the-box demo environments, and personalizing experiences to showcase the full value of Cresta’s capabilities - across conversation intelligence, real-time coaching, analytics, and AI agents.

This role sits at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and go-to-market strategy. You will manage and grow a team of Demo Engineers within the Solutions Team and partner closely with Solutions Engineering, Conversation Designers, Product, and Engineering to ensure Cresta delivers compelling, technically sound, and differentiated demo experiences.

You’ll be responsible not just for execution, but for defining the vision, standards, and operating model for demo engineering at Cresta - ensuring we scale high-quality, repeatable, and innovative demo experiences across industries and buyer personas.

What You’ll Do

Team Leadership & Strategy

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of Demo Engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, creativity, and technical excellence.

• Define and execute the roadmap for demo engineering, aligning with GTM priorities, product evolution, and key industry verticals.

• Establish best practices, standards, and operating processes for demo environments, POCs, and pilots to ensure scalability and consistency.

• Partner with Solutions Engineering leadership to ensure cohesive, high-quality storytelling across technical demos and conversational experiences.

Demo Platform & Environment Ownership

• Oversee the architecture, scalability, and reliability of demo environments, including virtual agents, agent assist, analytics, and end-to-end workflows.

• Drive the development of reusable, modular demo frameworks that can be rapidly customized for different industries and use cases.

• Ensure demo environments are always production-grade, stable, and ready for customer-facing engagements.

Innovation & Technical Enablement

• Guide the development of integrations, automations, and tooling (e.g., CCaaS/CRM connectors, AI workflows, custom apps) to expand demo capabilities.

• Champion the use of modern AI-native tooling (e.g., LLM workflows, agents, prompt frameworks) to enhance demo realism and impact.

• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Enablement teams to rapidly operationalize new feature releases into demo-ready assets, tooling, and environments—ensuring the field can effectively showcase the latest capabilities with clarity and confidence.

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering to influence roadmap priorities based on pre-sales learnings and technical gaps.

Cross-Functional Impact

• Partner closely with Solutions Engineering and Sales to support strategic deals, ensuring demos and POCs are tailored, differentiated, and impactful.

• Collaborate with Enablement to equip GTM teams with scalable demo assets, narratives, and technical training.

• Work cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Enablement to continuously translate new product innovations into compelling demo scenarios, reusable assets, and technical playbooks for the field.

• Establish feedback loops to capture insights from the field and translate them into improvements in product, demos, and workflows.

Operational Excellence

• Define and track success metrics for demo effectiveness, environment reliability, and team productivity.

• Implement processes for rapid issue triage and resolution to minimize risk in customer-facing moments.

• Drive continuous improvement in demo quality, speed, and scalability across the organization.

What You Bring

• 5–8+ years of experience in engineering, solutions architecture, technical pre-sales, or related roles, with 2+ years in a leadership or management capacity preferred.

• Strong technical foundation, including APIs, integrations, authentication, data systems, and scripting (Python, JavaScript, etc.).

• Proven ability to build and scale technical teams, processes, and systems in fast-paced, high-growth environments.

• Experience owning complex, customer-facing technical initiatives such as demos, POCs, or pilots.

• Excellent cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to influence across Product, Engineering, and GTM teams.

• Strong strategic thinking combined with a hands-on, execution-oriented mindset.

Bonus Points

• Experience with CCaaS platforms (Twilio, Amazon Connect, Five9, etc.) and CRM systems (Salesforce).

• Familiarity with conversational AI, virtual agents, and contact center workflows.

• Experience partnering closely with conversation design or UX teams to deliver end-to-end customer experiences.

• Experience leveraging modern AI tools (e.g., LLMs, agents, prompt engineering frameworks) in technical workflows.

• Background in high-growth SaaS or enterprise AI companies.

Why This Role Matters

Demo Engineering at Cresta is a strategic differentiator—it’s how we translate cutting-edge AI into tangible customer value. As the manager, you’ll define how we scale that advantage, enabling our teams to tell better stories, win more deals, and shape the future of AI in the contact center.

Compensation at Cresta

$140K - $170K + Variable + Equity (based on experience will vary)

Cresta’s approach to compensation is simple: recognize impact, reward excellence, and invest in our people. We offer competitive, location-based pay that reflects the market and what each individual brings to the table.

The posted base salary range represents what we expect to pay for this role in a given location. Final offers are shaped by factors like experience, skills, education, and geography. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes equity and a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family.

We have noticed a rise in recruiting impersonations across the industry, where scammers attempt to access candidates' personal and financial information through fake interviews and offers. All Cresta recruiting email communications will always come from the @cresta.ai domain. Any outreach claiming to be from Cresta via other sources should be ignored. If you are uncertain whether you have been contacted by an official Cresta employee, reach out to [email protected]