This is the reality of a regional sales office - it not too diff to how Big Tech operates. Eg probably 90% of regional Microsoft offices employ similar roles: account execs for local customers, and solutions engineers to help close (locally) large deals. Most R&D happens at HQ

AI might change some things about building software, but it changes pretty much nothing on how to sell it to enterprises! They need (and want) account execs to talk to (and who they can call), and solutions engineers who come to their office, work from there and integrate stuff

Also, anyone who looks down on these roles misses the point that getting into eg Anthropic is VERY difficult, even for these roles! Getting a position like this in a local office makes it easier to a) change jobs to another Big Tech from here! b) transfer internally (maybe one day)