Director, Solutions Engineer

Cisco•Austin, NE

7d•Remote

About The Position

You will be leading the "technical conscience" of the Cisco Security organization. You aren't just managing a team; you are shaping the future of how Cisco protects the digital footprint of our customers. You will work at the intersection of cutting-edge innovation and global business strategy, ensuring that our most brilliant minds are focused on the work that truly moves the needle. We are looking for a highly technical, dynamic, high-impact leader to guide our most senior global technical cohort: our Principal and Distinguished Security Solutions Engineers. You will be a player-coach responsible for orchestrating the technical strategy that positions Cisco as the #1 Security provider. This role is not about day-to-day task management; it is about force multiplication and being a deep technical leader and evangelist and industry visionary. You will empower these elite architects to solve our customers’ most complex security challenges, influence product roadmaps, and drive the evolution of Secure Networking and Cross-Architecture motions across the global security landscape.

Requirements

10+ years of experience leading highly impactful, global technical sales teams.
Proven ability to lead, motivate and influence expert level technologists (Principal/Distinguished Solutions Engineers) who require autonomy, create innovation and evangelize next generation technologies.
Deep Cyber Security Expertise: Mastery of enterprise, agentic, cloud, and security operations solutions (i.e. SASE, Hybrid Mesh Firewall, Identity, SIEM/SOAR, AI/Agentic Security, Frontier AI Models etc.).
Tested ability to lead deeply technical, consultative discussions while commanding the respect of industry leaders, in front of large audiences, across the partner ecosystem.
Strategic & Analytical Acumen: Demonstrated ability to drive consistent, dynamic processes improvement while demonstrating value commercially.
You thrive on ambiguity and can pivot team focus as market conditions evolve.
Cross-Functional Impact: Exceptional ability to navigate a global matrixed organization.
You must communicate, influence and partner with global stakeholders across Sales, Product, Finance, HR, and Engineering to drive successful outcomes both internally and externally.

Nice To Haves

BA/BS in Engineering or Computer Science or commensurate experience
Tested executive communication skills including the ability to translate technology into business impact repeatably at scale.
Proven ability to lead and influence new product introduction, gather actionable customer feedback, ensure durable adoption and continuous improvement over time.
Significant experience engaging with large, complex customers and partners, over time, delivering measurable impact and differentiation.
World class presentation and communication skills exemplified at industry events on stage and in smaller consultative engagements.
Demonstrated ability to architect, evangelize and deliver world class security teams and solutions across multiple product areas and target verticals.
Hands-on experience with AI and AI security.
Track record of building and scaling measurably impactful SE programs including product demonstrations, workshops and proofs of value
Global experience leading complex, competitive technical sales strategy.

Responsibilities

Partner with Business Unit (BU) leadership, Global Solutions Engineering, and Sales leadership to define the technical initiatives that optimize market share.
Translate high-level business goals into a concrete technical cross-architecture roadmap.
Work closely with product management, the solutions engineering field, and the Principal and Distinguished SE community to ensure that "real-world" insights gathered by your Distinguished/Principal team are directly influencing product features, improvements, and long-term GTM roadmaps.
Lead the technical strategy for emerging secure networking and cross-architecture technologies.
Mobilize your team to build the resources, tools, and processes (Demos, POVs, Workshops) that accelerate the adoption of transformative security solutions across the global team.
Foster an environment of continuous learning and technical excellence.
Provide the strategic framework and organizational support necessary for your team to tackle ambiguous, high-stakes problems.
Champion the team’s external presence as an evangelist and industry visionary.
Drive engagement with executive-level customers, industry research bodies, and technical advisory groups to solidify Cisco’s reputation for technical differentiation.
Manage headcount, budget, and resource allocation.
Ensure your team is aligned to the highest-value opportunities and that their impact is measurable through clear success metrics.

Benefits

medical, dental and vision insurance
a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution
paid parental leave
short and long-term disability coverage
basic life insurance
grants of Cisco restricted stock units
10 paid holidays per full calendar year
plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
1 paid day off for employee’s birthday
paid year-end holiday shutdown
4 paid days off for personal wellness
16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees (Non-exempt employees)
flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations) (Exempt employees)
80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer
annual bonuses
performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary