How a University Lecturer in China Became Conduktor's Head of Sales Engineering
Christoph Schubert is Conduktor's Head of Sales Engineering. His path here was unconventional: lecturing at Chinese universities, discovering Kafka at a small German SAP consultancy, getting hired by Confluent during a client meeting. Here's how it happened.
Life Outside Work
I live in the countryside near Bremen, Germany. I spend time outdoors, do photography, and serve as a volunteer firefighter.
Why I Moved to China to Teach
My girlfriend at the time was Chinese, and I wanted a new challenge. I ended up lecturing at three universities, primarily teaching software development. A dean suggested I explore big data because of my Java and mathematics background. I was skeptical at first, but teaching big data technologies and cloud computing pulled me in.
My First Real Kafka Project
Back in Germany, I joined a small SAP consultancy that had won projects involving Kafka. I started with Spark programming, but Kafka quickly became the better fit for our use cases.
How a Client Meeting Turned Into a Job Offer
I never planned to stay in streaming. I just wanted to work with new technologies.
Then our client brought in a Confluent Solutions Architect to evaluate our Kafka implementation. After two hours, he offered me a job. Working for a Silicon Valley company had always seemed unreachable. That moment showed me I was actually good at this.
Moving from Professional Services to Sales Engineering
At Confluent, I started in professional services, helping customers implement Kafka. I found myself enjoying the sales side: scoping projects, understanding customer problems, demonstrating solutions. That pushed me toward sales engineering, despite having no formal experience in selling software.
Jean-Louis Boudart, whom I knew from Confluent, reached out about Conduktor. I wanted to leave professional services, where you're often fixing problems, and join a team building a product. Conduktor was the right fit.
What I Do at Conduktor
I showcase Conduktor's technical value to customers:
- Demo the platform and help customers see how it fits their architecture
- Guide customers through proofs of value: troubleshooting, advising, ensuring a smooth experience
- Collaborate with product, marketing, and customer success teams
My role has shifted toward coaching. I onboard new team members and formalize how we interact with customers. It's a transition from player to coach.
Why Conduktor Works
The collaboration and speed. At a larger company, customer feedback gets stuck in process. At Conduktor, we rally around a problem and solve it fast. That's what makes it exciting.
Advice for Aspiring Sales Engineers
- Jump in. Don't wait for perfect experience. Learn on the job.
- Develop empathy. Understanding customer pain points is the job.
- Ask the right questions. Customers don't always articulate their needs clearly. Read between the lines and map their challenges to solutions.
- Keep learning. The best sales engineers communicate value effectively, not just technical specs.
Cat or Dog?
I grew up with both. If forced to choose: cats.
We're always looking for people who like solving problems and shipping fast.
Explore our careers and find your next opportunity at Conduktor.