Solutions Engineer

Cisco • San Francisco, CA

16d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Solutions Engineer owns the technical relationship with Neocloud and AI infrastructure customers in Cisco's Webscale and Neocloud provider segment. The role partners with Account Executives and the extended account team to develop and execute account strategies, establish credibility through architectural expertise, and turn that credibility into technical design wins. Customers are building large AI training and inference environments, including GPU clusters, high-radix Ethernet back-end networks, and optical transport networks.

The position leads customer-facing technical engagements from discovery and architecture through validation, proof of concept, and technical close. It designs AI, data center, and service provider networks at scale, including AI back-end and front-end fabrics spanning compute, storage, and optics. The engineer applies routing expertise and hands-on network operating system experience while delivering demonstrations, whiteboard sessions, and executive briefings that link technical design to business outcomes. The role also mobilizes engineering, product, and business-unit stakeholders to address customer requirements and influence roadmaps, and leads demand-generation and enablement initiatives for assigned accounts and the segment.

This position is based in Cisco's San Jose, California office and requires a hybrid schedule of two days per week onsite. Candidates must currently be in the Bay Area or be willing to relocate there.

Requirements

• At least 8 years in technical pre-sales, solutions architecture, or customer-facing systems engineering, with a track record of owning the technical win.
• Deep expertise in data center networking and service provider technologies, including BGP, EVPN, MPLS, or Segment Routing.
• Hands-on experience with Cisco IOS-XR, NX-OS, or equivalent network operating systems.
• Strong technical expertise with Cisco or competitor data center and routing platforms.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and problem-solving skills, with a customer-focused mindset.
• Self-motivation and proactivity, with the ability to build durable technical relationships at customer accounts.
• Ability to meet the hybrid schedule of two days per week in the San Jose office; candidates must be located in or willing to relocate to the Bay Area.

Nice To Haves

• CCIE in Data Center, Service Provider, or Enterprise Infrastructure, or equivalent depth.
• At least 10 years delivering results in high-velocity, advanced technology environments.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.
• Experience selling into Neocloud, hyperscale, or AI infrastructure customers.
• Open-source network operating system experience, particularly SONiC.
• Optical system design experience, including Metro, RON, DWDM, and data center optics.
• Knowledge of silicon architecture, ASICs, and system-level design.
• Experience with AI workloads, large language models, and the MLOps toolchain.
• Comfort with scripting and automation, such as Python and Ansible, to support customer proofs of concept and validation.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical relationship with Neocloud and AI infrastructure customers.
• Lead technical customer engagements end-to-end, including discovery, architecture, validation, proof of concept, and technical close.
• Own the technical win by positioning Cisco architectures against competitive alternatives and resolving objections at engineering and executive levels.
• Develop and execute account strategy with Account Executives and the extended account team.
• Deliver demonstrations, whiteboard sessions, and executive briefings that connect technical designs to business outcomes.
• Mobilize engineering, product, and business-unit stakeholders to unblock customer requirements and influence the product roadmap.
• Lead demand-generation and enablement initiatives for accounts and the customer segment.
• Design AI, data center, and service provider networks at scale, including AI back-end and front-end fabrics spanning compute, storage, and optics.
• Apply routing expertise and hands-on network operating system experience to customer solutions.
• Stay current on AI infrastructure trends and adapt technical strategy as the market changes.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.
• Cisco restricted stock unit grants may be available, subject to eligibility and vesting conditions.
• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year.
• One floating holiday for non-exempt employees.
• A paid day off for the employee's birthday.
• Paid year-end holiday shutdown.
• Four paid personal wellness days.
• Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year; exempt employees participate in a flexible vacation time-off program with no defined limit, subject to availability and business limitations.
• 80 hours of sick time provided on hire and each January 1, with up to 80 unused hours carried forward.
• Additional paid time away may be requested for critical or emergency family issues.
• Optional 10 paid volunteer days per full calendar year.
• Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay; quota-based incentive compensation has no cap.

What This Job Offers

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