Solutions Engineer at Cisco

Meet the Team

The Solutions Engineer (SE) is a customer-focused technical sales professional responsible for providing technical expertise, solution design, and implementation guidance to customers in a dedicated and/or pooled capacity. Holding direct technical accountability for specific opportunities, the SE leverages deep knowledge across Cisco's broad portfolio—including hardware, software, and services—alongside his/her technical specialization to deliver business outcomes.

Taking an architectural perspective, the SE demonstrates how Cisco products and solutions address customers' business challenges. Working closely with Account Managers and engaging additional resources (e.g., consulting specialists, demo labs), the SE recommends, develops, and proposes tailored customer solutions. The SE cultivates long-term relationships with customer technical stakeholders, identifies opportunities aligned to customer business goals, and proactively shares knowledge and best practices across Cisco and the SE Community.

Reports To: Solutions Engineering Leader

Your Impact

Identify Opportunities

• Contribute to the development of the Technical Account Plan by applying a deep understanding of customer business requirements.

• Provide input on local market demand to support the broader Account Plan.

• Proactively generate leads through customer meetings, seminars, and educational engagements.

Qualify Opportunities

• Translate customer business challenges into clearly defined technical contexts.

• Recommend qualified partner resources when appropriate.

• Advance deals through the sales process by strategically engaging the right Cisco and partner tools and resources (e.g., CSE, PSS, AS, CX Engineers, demo labs).

• Refine and research technical requirements for each opportunity.

• Define solution options and articulate the value and benefits of Cisco solutions.

• Analyze competitive offerings to effectively position Cisco solutions.

Develop and Present Solutions:

• Interpret the technical components of RFPs and determine the optimal approach to proposal development, covering products, solutions, software, and services.

• Engage external resources as needed for RFPs, competitive analysis, and specialized content.

• Research and demonstrate business benefits of proposed solutions, including ROI.

• Coordinate solution development by leveraging Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) and researching customized alternatives.

• Identify and engage appropriate post-sales support resources.

• Develop Proof-of-Concept (PoC) engagements using demo labs, including presentation and documentation of test results.

• Develop or oversee the creation of presentation materials.

• Present technical components of Cisco solutions to customers, engaging additional resources (e.g., CSE, TSA) as required.

• Serve as a technical advisor to the customer and account team within your area of expertise.

• Utilize appropriate internal processes for key feature requests and product requirements.

Post-Sales Transition and Customer Success:

• Coordinate with post-sales teams, providing comprehensive documentation for a smooth handoff.

• Minimize post-sales engagement by escalating outstanding requests to the appropriate teams (Partner, TAC, GFEP).

• Ensure customer technical needs are fully met, addressing any gaps proactively.

• Document solutions where appropriate and share findings with relevant Business Units (BUs) and the SE Community.

• Request feedback on opportunity performance to support continuous improvement.

Personal and Organizational Development:

• Focus on the continuous development of technical, professional, and sales skills.

• Engage mentors actively to support and execute on personal development plans.

• Promote innovative approaches to address evolving business challenges.

• Contribute to knowledge sharing and best practices within the SE Community.

Minimum Qualifications

• 7 to 10 years of experience in markets where Cisco competes.

• Minimum 5 years of field technical sales experience as a Solutions Engineer, Architect, or equivalent role.

• Strong operating experience and proven expertise in at least one of the following specialization areas:

• Enterprise Networking

• Data Center Networking and/or Compute

• Wireless LAN

• Security

• Service Provider Routing

• Software-Defined Solutions (SD-WAN, SDA, ACI)

• Network and Cloud Management Platforms

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or Agentic Operations

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.