GRAHAM BROOKS Sales Engineer / Solutions Architect Moscow, Idaho, United States - open to relocation Email: graham@brooks-security.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/grahamwbrooks GitHub: github.com/littleseneca Website: brooks-security.com PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY Sales engineer and solutions architect with ten years in information technology, split between presales for a security software vendor and hands-on security engineering on the buying side. Three years running the technical side of the sales cycle at Syxsense: proofs of concept, RFI and RFP responses, architecture sessions, and technical webinars. As one of three sales engineers, provided presales support on deals representing 50% of total company revenue in the first year, including deals north of $1 million, then hired and led the sales engineering team as Lead Solutions Architect. Since 2024, built and ran a security program in-house, taking it through SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 with zero adverse findings. Seeking a Sales Engineering or Solutions Architecture role in platform security, blue-team tooling, or cloud infrastructure. CORE SKILLS Presales and Solutions Architecture: technical discovery, proof of concept scoping and delivery, RFI and RFP response, security questionnaire and vendor risk review response, competitive positioning, technical webinars and conference speaking, customer architecture design Security and Compliance: SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2, NIST SP 800-53, ISO 27001, HIPAA, security policy and procedure authoring, risk assessment, vulnerability management, incident response, evidence collection, audit management, identity and access management design and audit, endpoint hardening, CIS Benchmarks Cloud and Infrastructure: Amazon Web Services (IAM, EC2, ECS, RDS, Aurora, VPC, Route 53, S3, CloudFront, Lambda, API Gateway, Security Hub, Secrets Manager, SSM Parameter Store), Microsoft Azure, Proxmox, VMware vSphere Automation and Engineering: Terraform, Ansible, Python, Bash, Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, configuration management, HashiCorp Vault, PostgreSQL, Nginx, Caddy Operating Systems: Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian, Ubuntu), Windows, macOS PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Senior Security and Systems Engineer AvatarFleet - Moscow, Idaho (Remote) March 2024 to Present - Led the organization through SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 accreditation, achieving Type 2 with zero adverse findings. - Built the initial security program from nothing, including foundational policies, procedures, and a security-aware culture in an early-stage startup environment. - Authored and maintained the security policy set, implemented the corresponding controls, and produced the evidence package presented to auditors. - Owned responses to customer security questionnaires and vendor risk reviews, clearing the reviews that block enterprise deals. - Drove AWS security improvements through Terraform and Ansible, standardizing controls and automating compliance evidence collection. - Architected and built the organization's enterprise infrastructure from the ground up, replacing legacy infrastructure with minimal downtime. Lead Solutions Architect Syxsense Inc. - Moscow, Idaho (Remote) March 2023 to March 2024 - Hired, trained, and led the sales engineering team, with three direct reports. - Provided presales support on deals representing 30% of total company revenue, with the balance increasingly carried by the team built during this period. - Led the design and implementation of security solutions across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, focusing on automation. - Oversaw deployment of automated security solutions using Ansible and Python, reducing manual overhead and improving response times. - Helped align product development with emerging cloud security trends and customer requirements. - Presented to audiences in the hundreds from the company's booth stage at Black Hat USA, and spoke at industry events on security automation in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. - Led hands-on technical workshops with dozens of customers at a time, working live in customer environments. - Taught a week-long seminar as a visiting industry partner at VIT-AP University, Vijayawada, India. - Worked large-format trade show booths and represented the technical side in critical-path deal negotiations. Senior Security Solutions Architect Syxsense Inc. - Salt Lake City, Utah April 2022 to March 2023 - Provided presales support on deals representing 40% of total company revenue. - Designed and implemented tailored security automation solutions for critical infrastructure customers, using Ansible and Python to integrate AWS-hosted EC2 workloads into the platform. - Developed vulnerability management frameworks for Linux servers in regulated on-premises environments, supporting customers with tens of thousands of endpoints under management. - Contributed to the platform user guide and provided technical customer support. - Committed code in Bash and Python to improve Linux endpoint availability and reliability. Solutions Architect Syxsense Inc. - Salt Lake City, Utah April 2021 to April 2022 - One of three sales engineers. Provided presales support on deals representing 50% of total company revenue in the first year, including deals north of $1 million. - Directly managed more than 100 new logos through proofs of concept and RFI and RFP responses. - Co-architected customer deployments to match target environments. - Developed and delivered educational webinars for the marketing team. Associate Information Technology Analyst Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories - Pullman, Washington September 2020 to April 2021 - Partnered with Security Operations to apply CIS Benchmarks to Linux endpoints using Chef. - Created a standardized, domain-integrated Ubuntu Linux distribution for the company. - Supported Linux users across the organization. Information Technology Technician Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories - Pullman, Washington August 2018 to September 2020 - Provided desktop support and played a key role in the organization's migration from Windows 7 to Windows 10. Information Technology Technician Washington State University - Pullman, Washington November 2016 to August 2018 - Provided desktop and physical networking support for the Chemistry department while completing undergraduate studies. CERTIFICATIONS Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), 2026 AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate, 2024 Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), 2023 Red Hat Certified Professional (RHCP), 2022 CompTIA Security+, 2022 Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA), 2020 EDUCATION Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, 2018