Digital Matchmaker

Shobhit Dubey (MEM ‘24) is something of a matchmaker.  

As a solutions engineer at Salesforce, Shobhit’s role is to connect potential customers with the right products and services inside the company’s vast ecosystem—the digital backbone behind how more than 150,000 companies track customers, run workflows, and make decisions.  

It’s a role he's comfortable in thanks to Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM)program.  

“Salesforce is massive, and customers don't always know what they need,” he said. “It's up to me to understand them from a very high level and build trust so they end up with the right products and services where they will see the value in their investment.”  

Shobhit is a salesman—a role he wouldn't associate with MEM alumni. Many of his classmates went on to product management (PM) positions. Now that he's been in his role for more than a year, he sees common threads between the two. 

“I truly believe that I'm more of a PM than a salesperson because I'm using a lot of PM skills,” he said. “I'm influencing without authority. I'm doing stakeholder management. I'm executing a business vision into a technical value. I'm leveraging PM skills in an AI age.” 

That AI age is transforming Salesforce. The company is attempting to turn its entire platform into an AI-powered operating system for customer data.  

Shobhit's daily work now includes helping potential clients take on similar evolutions. 

“You don't want to wait to see how your digital transformation happens and then invest in AI,” he said. “The biggest challenge that I have today is how to get customers three steps ahead, as opposed to one step ahead.”  

It is a significant challenge, but one Shobhit is committed to.  

Commitment is something Shohbit understands well—particularly as it relates to Salesforce. After all, it took him two years of networking just to secure his current position. 

This is actually Shobhit's second stint at Salesforce. He spent nearly two years with the company as a technical product engineer in India before leaving to attend MEM. Soon after arriving in the US, he connected with Salesforce leaders to find a path back to the company in a more senior role.  

He had interviews and remained in touch with the company, even after he landed a full-time product management role with Caterpillar while still in MEM.  

Six months into that job, Shobhit got an offer from Salesforce. It was one he couldn't pass up.  

“Whenever I was introduced, they would say, ‘This is the guy that's been interviewing with us for more than a year,'" he said. “It definitely took a minute to get here.”  

His mission now is to make the most of all the minutes he has with the company going forward. To do that, he is relying on lessons learned in the MEM program.  

Some of the most applicable knowledge Shobhit gained in MEM came from Negotiations for Engineers, a course taught by MEM director Mark Werwath.  

“Today, I'm negotiating on a daily basis,” he said. “A big part of my job is establishing trust very early on. How do I create that presence in 30 minutes for someone to trust my recommendations and make a business investment?” 

Thanks to his time in the MEM program, Shobhit is confident he can answer that question. He also is comfortable in what he understands is a less traditional career path. 

“My role initially was more of a sales role, but now it has become more of a problem solver,” he said. “I challenge my customers, but they know that I understand their business. That's when they truly value my recommendations.”