Technical Marketing Engineering Leader, Cisco Validated

Cisco•Research Triangle Park, NC

4d•$169,300 - $237,200•Hybrid

About The Position

The Technical Marketing Engineering Leader on Cisco's Cisco Validated team turns Cisco's One Cisco and Better Together strategy into field-credible technical proof. The role leads validation across integrated Cisco solutions by building and testing lab environments that reflect real customer scenarios and establish what is repeatable, supportable, and ready for the field. The leader works with Business Unit product managers and TMEs, architectural sponsors, field architects, sales teams, and Cisco Validated peers to scope validation efforts, define evidence requirements, identify integration gaps, and translate findings into trustworthy assets for sales teams, architects, partners, and customers. The work supports Cisco Validated Designs and expands into proof motions, integrated solutions, case studies, briefs, and reference architectures. The role also mentors developing TMEs and external partner resources, shapes repeatable validation practices, and helps build a durable cross-portfolio talent model. The technical scope spans integrated Cisco technologies and customer architectures, potentially including networking, security, cloud, data center and AI infrastructure, collaboration, digital resilience, lab validation, performance and interoperability testing, evidence capture, and technical documentation. This is a hybrid position requiring 2–3 days per week in the office, with candidates located in San Jose, CA; Raleigh, NC; or Atlanta, GA.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related technical field.
12+ years of hands-on technical experience designing, implementing, validating, troubleshooting, or supporting complex enterprise, service provider, cloud, security, collaboration, or data center technology environments.
Experience in networking, security, cloud, collaboration, automation, or adjacent infrastructure technologies, with depth in at least one major technical domain.
Experience leading technical work across cross-functional stakeholders, including product, engineering, field, sales, or customer-facing teams.
Experience translating ambiguous technical or business objectives into scoped validation plans, evidence requirements, findings, and field-ready outputs.

Nice To Haves

Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with shifting priorities, cross-functional dependencies, and complex technical tradeoffs.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical findings and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences.
Deep knowledge of the Cisco portfolio, with hands-on experience across multiple Cisco technologies, architectures, or solution domains.
Ability to understand how Cisco products integrate into broader customer architectures and cross-portfolio outcomes.
Strong general networking foundation, including routing, switching, wireless, security, cloud connectivity, segmentation, policy, observability, or related infrastructure concepts.
Experience with AI infrastructure, AI-ready data center architectures, GPU cluster networking, high-performance fabrics, workload connectivity, or secure AI architecture concepts.
Experience validating, designing, deploying, or supporting integrated solutions in lab, field, customer, partner, or systems engineering environments.
Ability to communicate technical findings and recommendations clearly to sales teams, partners, and product stakeholders through technical documentation, deployment guidance, reference architectures, and validation proof assets.

Responsibilities

Lead cross-portfolio validation efforts for integrated Cisco solutions aligned with Cisco's strategic priorities.
Define validation scope, success criteria, evidence requirements, and repeatability expectations for assigned initiatives; bring structure to ambiguous requests and changing priorities.
Build, configure, test, and troubleshoot complex lab environments that reflect real customer deployment scenarios.
Partner with BU product managers, BU TMEs, Architectural Sponsors, field architects, sales teams, and Cisco Validated peers to ensure validation outcomes are technically credible and field-relevant.
Identify integration gaps, product limitations, operational considerations, and readiness concerns early enough to inform product, field, and leadership decisions.
Produce technical evidence, lab notes, configuration artifacts, test results, known issues, and documentation inputs for validated outcomes.
Mentor developing TMEs and external partner resources by setting technical direction, reviewing evidence quality, and reinforcing repeatable validation practices.
Translate technical findings into field-ready assets, including validation proof, deployment guidance, reference architectures, case studies, and briefs.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
401(k) plan with 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 continued employment vesting conditions.
10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus one floating holiday for non-exempt employees.
Paid day off for employee's birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and four paid personal wellness days.
Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees.
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 off provided on hire date and each January 1 thereafter, 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.
Annual bonuses may be available for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco policies.
Sales-plan employees may earn performance-based incentive pay, subject to the applicable Cisco plan.