ᐷ Ben Seymour

My Professional Journey so far

A Career Dedicated to Growth and Innovation

For over two decades, I've been privileged to be at the forefront of technological innovation, specializing in Technical Pre-Sales Leadership, Technical Post-Sales Leadership, Evangelism and possessing a broad spectrum of versatile skills. My journey has been defined by joining high-tech startups and growth-stage enterprises at pivotal moments, helping them scale, establish market presence, and achieve remarkable success. I've thrived in remote roles supporting US/UK markets for 20 years, witnessing and contributing to the evolution of companies from fledgling teams to global leaders, including two unicorns.

My experience spans critical staffing phases: Vercel (40→600+), Cloudinary (30→180), Adobe (via acquisition, 120→20,000+), Amplience (30→120), and CSW Group (20→120), Dendral (2→8).

Current Role: Leading at Hyperspeed with Vercel

▲Vercel (May 2021 - Present) Senior Director, Field Engineering
Previously: Director Sales Engineering (interim Global), Sales Engineer

Joining Vercel, a true hyper-growth organization, has been an exhilarating chapter. I was the first dedicated Sales Engineer, tasked with establishing the Technical Pre-Sales capability from the ground up. This involved deep collaboration with the core GTM global leadership on foundational processes.

As the company scaled (ARR from $5M to $180M+ and valuation from $0.8B to $3.25B during my tenure so far), my role expanded. I became the hiring manager for all Sales Engineering hires across EMEA and APAC, and played a key part in the core hiring team for 'Rest of World' Marketing, Partnerships, and Account Executives. I also stepped in as interim Global Director of Sales Engineering during periods of organizational change.

Key Achievements at Vercel:

"Ben is an absolutely stellar performer and leader in our rest of world team. He is completely self sufficient, advocates for his teams effectively, and is able to foresee the needs of the team well into the future. Ben has built one of the highest performing teams in the company, and was able to take on a new team with relatively short notice and get them on track for success instantly.
Ben is a talented, thoughtful, intelligent, and passionate leader... I would work with Ben again in a heartbeat.” Ricky Doar, VP Field Engineering, Vercel

"Ben isn't just a manager, he's an inspirational leader and mentor with a passion for developing everyone around him. In just my first 6 months he has already had a profound impact on my life.” Matt F., Senior SE, Vercel

Scaling Heights: Pre-Unicorn Success Stories

Cloudinary (Oct 2018 – May 2021)

Principal Sales Engineer (Technical Pre-Sales)

At Cloudinary, a Forbes Cloud 100 company bootstrapped to $100M+ ARR, I played a significant role in the continued growth and market presence of their Dynamic Media and DAM SaaS solutions. My focus was on engaging customers and prospects across EMEA, APAC, and North America.

Key Achievements at Cloudinary:

"Ben is a domain expert and great at solving problems for customers with his breadth and depth of industry experience and technical knowledge... But beyond that, Ben is simply a pleasure to work with. He is an extremely pleasant and humble individual, a real team player, keen to help others." Daniel Rotman, SVP of Business Lines, Cloudinary

Amplience (Aug 2012 – July 2018)

Director, Sales Engineering (Technical Pre-Sales)
Previously: Director, Professional Services

At Amplience, I was pivotal in establishing their Dynamic Media SaaS solution in the eCommerce marketplace. I initially owned technical post-sales projects and then led pre-sales engagements, securing major global enterprises like Tesco, Shop Direct, and Otto Group.

Key Achievements at Amplience:

Foundations: Enterprise SaaS and Early Ventures

Adobe Systems (via Scene7 Acquisition) (July 2007 – Aug 2012)

Senior Manager, Professional Services
Previously: Senior Solution Engineer

My journey with Adobe began via the acquisition of Scene7, their first Enterprise SaaS service. This was a landmark move in Adobe's major business transformation towards a SaaS model.

Key Achievements at Adobe/Scene7:

"Ben handled our most important global accounts at Adobe with skill, authority and diplomacy. He has an exceptional ability to communicate well and engender trust across the globe and management level. I have seen him impress a managing director with his business insight and creativity and quell engineering concerns surrounding timelines and solutions.” Pam Sogge, Director, Professional Services, Adobe

CSW Group Ltd. (Feb 2004 – July 2007)

Product Specialist → Technical Consultant Team Lead → Technical Account Manager & Technical Project Manager

CSW was a leader in healthcare records management and a Times TechTrack 30 fastest-growth company. Here, I honed skills in team leadership, project management (up to £10M projects), and account management.

Dendral (UK) (Feb 2000 – Oct 2003)

Senior Developer

My early career at this venture-funded startup focused on semantic/neural networks and NLP products, working with Java, Web Services, XML, ASP, and more. This laid the technical groundwork for my future roles.

Entrepreneurial Spirit & Community Involvement

See More Potential Ltd. (Co-founder, Aug 2008 – Present) An umbrella for diverse independent projects:

Community & Industry Contributions:

Core Skills & Expertise

Education & Professional Affiliations

This profile reflects a journey driven by a passion for technology's potential and a commitment to building and enabling high-performing teams.