Kiumars Soltani

Wildcard
DISC Type : isc

Director of Engineering at Verkada

San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Overview

Kiumars Soltani is the Director of Engineering at Verkada, specializing in AI, visual search, and large-scale distributed systems. A graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a PhD, he has been instrumental in developing core technologies at Verkada, including the Helix video search engine and face and license plate matching systems.

Outside of his direct engineering responsibilities, Kiumars shows an interest in philanthropy and the broader startup ecosystem. He is actively involved in recruiting engineering talent to join Verkada, highlighting the companys growth and innovative work environment. He has also expressed interest in organizations like the Child Foundation.

He developed novel algorithms and distributed systems to store and analyze large-scale geospatial data during his PhD research.

Personality Overview

Curious But Skeptical

ROI Driven

Friendly But Slow

They are often friendly and nice, but can sometimes suprise you with their piercing questions  They are unlikely to ever become strong champions even when the conversations are going well; you should focus on cultivating other champions They typically tend to be late adopters even when they seem friendly and excited about what you have to sell

Topics They Care About

AI-Driven Security
He is focused on moving beyond reactive alerts to AI-driven deterrence, aiming to stop security incidents before they escalate.
Visual Search
He led the creation of Verkada's face/license plate matching, in-house embedding search, and the enterprise video search engine, Helix.
Distributed Systems
His background includes creating a distributed data quality platform at Zillow and developing distributed platforms for spatiotemporal data during his PhD research.

Media Appearances

Kiumars has no verified media appearances

Work History

7-2025
Director of Engineering at Verkada
3-2024 - 7-2025
Head of Engineering, Alarms and Monitoring at Verkada
1-2021 - 3-2024
Engineering Manager at Verkada
6-2014 - 8-2014
Research Intern at Microsoft
Software Engineer at Zillow

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
BSc from Sharif University of Technology

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 5 Location : San Francisco Bay Area, United States Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Director of Engineering at Verkada
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Insights For Selling To Kiumars

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Share testimonials from known people and give multiple examples of product value
  • Help them understand the risk aspect fully while inspiring confidence
  • Focus on immediate action-items rather than the larger goals

DONT's

  • Do not sound overly eager, modulate your energy levels especially if you are generally enthusiastic
  • Don't ask them to move fast, let them take their time and digest all the information
  • Don’t overhype the product/pitch, keep it measured

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Kiumars is

  • Clear proof of product value matters to them, followed by others' testimonials and rapport.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Kiumars

  • They are likely to give you a clear answer without taking you around in circles. However, if you share a good relationship, they might not be so forthcoming.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Kiumars move?

  • They like to perform full analysis and can take time to make any decision.
  • Can Kiumars take some risk or not?

  • They weigh all decisions systematically and are unlikely to take many risks.

You And Kiumars

Personality Compatibility


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