Principal Solutions Architect (Public Sector)

Equinix • Ashburn, GA

1d • $241,000 - $361,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Solutions Architect, Public Sector is a focused technical sales resource within Equinix providing consulting services targeted at Federal, State, Local, and Education (SLED) agencies and mission-driven organizations with demanding requirements around secure connectivity, hybrid cloud, compliance-driven architectures, and mission-critical workload performance. The position is a high-visibility role both within and outside the company, and as such, the ideal candidate will possess a superior balance of self-motivation, senior technical expertise, advanced client handling, and prior experience innovating and delivering unprecedented growth within the Federal IT and public sector ecosystem.

Requirements

• Customer focused with strong mission and business acumen across Federal, DoD, and SLED environments
• Excellent verbal, written, and visual communication skills with ability to tailor messaging for both technical and non-technical government audiences
• Ability to work with key internal and external stakeholders — including SIs, prime contractors, and agency program offices — and seamlessly deliver results
• Excellent executive engagement skills across both civilian and defense agency leadership
• Strong familiarity with Federal procurement vehicles, contracting strategies, and budget cycles (O&M vs. capital, CR environments, etc.)
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to identify value and create urgency in a complex, often slow-moving procurement environment
• Strong public speaking skills with ability to simplify and explain complex architectures for audiences ranging from GS-13 program managers to SES-level agency CIOs
• Ability to influence and lead solution conversations in a matrixed environment including SI partners, channel, and Equinix global teams
• Linear, logical thinking with the ability to break down and solve difficult compliance, security, and interoperability challenges
• Strong emotional intelligence and diplomatic skills — essential when navigating multi-stakeholder Federal opportunities
• Superior organizational and project management skills aligned to long-cycle Federal pursuit timelines
• Deep ability to articulate design principles for secure, compliant technical architectures including FedRAMP, ITAR, IL4/IL5/IL6 environments, and NIST 800-53 frameworks
• Strong technical knowledge up and down the stack: colocation, interconnection, cloud on-ramps, SD-WAN, network security, and hybrid multi-cloud
• Comfortable preparing and leading workshops, briefings, and capability demonstrations at civilian agencies, DoD installations, and partner briefing centers
• Solid ability to speak to interrelated solutions including data center, cloud, networking, security, and compliance-driven architectures
• 15+ years in the functional domains of Network, Data Center, Enterprise IT Systems, Federal IT architecture, or defense/intelligence community infrastructure preferred
• 7+ years of solutions selling in a commercial or Federal pre-sales position preferred
• Prior experience working with or selling through Federal systems integrators (Leidos, SAIC, Booz Allen, CACI, Peraton, etc.) strongly preferred
• Active or clearable security clearance (Secret minimum; TS/SCI a strong differentiator)
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related engineering discipline preferred
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related engineering discipline preferred
• Advanced industry certifications preferred: Cisco, VMware, AWS GovCloud, Microsoft Azure Government, NVIDIA; TOGAF (v9 Part 1 and Part 2), ITIL 3.0, or CCIE-Written
• FedRAMP, CMMC, or FISMA/NIST framework knowledge strongly preferred

Responsibilities

• Engage, build relationships, and influence Senior Agency Executives, CIOs, CTOs, and Program Directors as a trusted advisor within strategic Federal, SLED, and defense-adjacent accounts to understand mission objectives and align them to future sales engagements
• Inspire, drive, and motivate the extended public sector team around a unified go-to-market approach
• Influence decision-making at the strategic level across civilian agencies, DoD components, systems integrators (SIs), and channel partners
• Adeptly navigate conversations with Agency executives around mission outcomes and pivot fluidly into technical depth around solutions, compliance frameworks, and architecture to drive transformational engagements
• Act as a well-rounded Subject Matter Expert (SME) with the technical depth to confidently present in front of audiences ranging from contracting officers to CISOs to network engineers
• Proactively support strategic public sector sales opportunities by collaborating with Federal account teams on capture planning, agency calls, and customer-facing meetings
• Understand and communicate the value proposition of Equinix solutions for complex public sector use cases including FedRAMP-authorized environments, Zero Trust architectures, CMMC compliance, and sovereign/classified adjacency requirements
• Participate in dynamic conversations about public sector procurement mechanics — GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs, and co-op vehicles — and their influence on key stakeholders and buying cycles
• Act as an industry thought leader in agency meetings and public settings by understanding where Federal IT modernization is headed (FITARA, CDM, EO on Cybersecurity, Cloud Smart) and how Equinix accelerates agency missions
• Closely follow Federal and SLED industry trends, policy shifts, and budget cycles to shape account team priorities and share intelligence broadly across the organization
• Regularly evangelize solutions and roadmaps at industry conferences, trade shows, and partner forums including AWS Invent Public Sector, Microsoft Federal, Google Public Sector, and events such as ACT-IAC, AFCEA, and MeriTalk
• Continually increase knowledge and develop skills through formal education, self-study, and independent work including relevant Federal IT and compliance certifications
• Incubate new emerging capabilities for the public sector market — determining potential business plans, routes to monetization through GSA/SEWP vehicles, key SI and OEM partnerships, and pilot concepts with agency clients
• Provides advanced technology solutioning support to Equinix Federal field, channel, and Alliance sales teams
• Develops the account technology strategy (application of Equinix IOA) with Federal Account Executives and SI capture teams
• Prepares and conducts agency technology workshops and mission alignment sessions
• Develops peer relationships with customers at the GS-14/15 and SES level, and with capture and technical leads at prime SI partners

Benefits

• Employee Assistance Program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Voluntary plans
• Retirement plan
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid Holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal