Vishal Nakra

About Vishal Nakra

Sales engineering leader for high-growth cybersecurity, Data and Observability vendors. Deep experience working with Tier 1, strategic + startup customers in all verticals. 20+ years in security and software, devotee of business + tech trends, broadly successful across all routes to market + segments. I work fast, truly own my business, understand MEDDPICC/CoM cold, lead directly, and coach deeply. I build revenue and never just \"support\".Mantras: Learn like a machine. See patterns that others miss. Simplify to Scale. Business value Tech. Execute + Adapt Plan forever. I build sales and solutions teams that have a bias for execution and speed, are relentless about moving faster, never forget they have more to learn, and never forget that their job is to unlock value for our customers. Tech is fun, but the magic is about how much change you can unlock, how much you can help a customer innovate. We do that by staying focused on where customers want to go as a *business*, teaching them things they wish they had time for, showing up in unexpectedly good ways, and being markedly better/faster advisors than the mediocrity that customers are used to. My world has revolved around security and data analysis for a long time. From large-scale network data to security data across the stack to Observability, it\'s always been about finding what\'s special within it. Cybersecurity is a longstanding passion and will remain so, but data writ large is where the value truly lies. I\'m a recovering developer too; I\'ve had the good fortune to lead talented teams of others, and have immense respect for the difficulty and world-changing nature of the craft. For a decade, I built products that brought everyone\'s networks to life. All the things you do today, faster than previous generations imagined possible - I helped make that happen.

Experience

1. Sr Manager, Solutions Engineering - Southeast Enterprise Majors

   Grafana Labs

   Aug 2025 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   I lead Grafana Labs\'s new customer acquisition and existing customer growth teams for the Southeast US. Enterprise and Majors.

Education

• Virginia Tech

  M.S, Computer Science

Skills

• Technical Leadership
• Project Management
• Computer Security
• Node.js
• Human Computer Interaction
• Subversion
• Usability
• Tcp/Ip
• Start-Ups
• Linux System Administration
• Elasticsearch
• Computer Networking
• Interaction Design
• Product Design
• Xml
• User Experience Design
• Mobile/Handheld Devices
• Continuous Process Improvement
• Network Testing
• Git
• Software Development
• Python
• Telecommunications
• Metro Ethernet
• Perl
• Embedded Systems
• Enterprise Software
• Technical Presentations
• Saas
• Communication Protocols
• Software as a Service (Saas)
• Unix Shell Scripting
• Strategy
• C++
• C
• Cyber Security
• Axure
• Software Design
• Process Improvement
• Software Engineering