Solutions Engineer, Federal

The application window is expected to close on: 11/14/2026

Candidate must relocate or live in the listed Territory

Meet the Team

You will join a dynamic, customer-obsessed Systems Engineering team dedicated to driving architectural innovation, enterprise transformation, and strategic growth across high-impact accounts in the Mid-Atlantic and East regions. We serve as the technical authority and trusted advisors for our customers and channel partners, owning the Cisco brand, architecting cutting-edge cross-domain solutions, and turning complex business challenges into resilient digital platforms. Our team thrives on collaboration, continuous learning, and close partnership with Account Executives and specialist teams to deliver measurable business outcomes.

In this role, you will be the primary technical sales influencer, collaborating with account teams and connected sales specialists to shape customer technology roadmaps, accelerate deal velocity, and ensure long-term customer success.

What You'll Do

• Strategic Account Planning & Roadmap Development: Develop multi-year strategic plans for enterprise customers, integrating Cisco’s cross-architecture portfolio (Enterprise Networking, Security, Collaboration, and Cloud/Observability) into client business transformation strategies.
• Cross-Architectural Solution Design: Deepen expertise across Cisco's portfolio by integrating extensive domain knowledge with cross-architectural solutions, shaping senior executives' technical strategy and business vision.
• Technical Sales Leadership & Influence: Serve as the primary technical advisor and trusted influencer for IT decision-makers and Line of Business (LOB) leaders, translating complex business needs into actionable, resilient technical requirements.
• Demonstrations, Whiteboarding & Proof of Value (PoV): Lead interactive technical demonstrations and architectural whiteboarding sessions that showcase how Cisco solutions deliver business outcomes and successfully displace competitors.
• Opportunity Expansion & Deal Progression: Spend significant selling time landing new opportunities and expanding within existing accounts, taking the lead on moving deals across the technical sales lifecycle in lockstep with Account Executives.
• Corporate Interlock & Feedback Loop: Provide active feedback to Cisco Business Entities (BEs) and sales leadership regarding strategic customer needs, market opportunities, product enhancements, and competitive tactics.
• Virtual Team Leadership & Enablement: Direct virtual SE teams and extended partner sales resources toward continuous improvement, overseeing technical enablement and demand-generation programs across the territory.
• Agility & Market Disruption: Demonstrate technical agility by adjusting pre-sales strategies in response to market disruptions, emerging technologies, and evolving customer priorities.

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of related experience in technical pre-sales, systems engineering, solutions architecture, or senior enterprise technical consulting.
• Strong foundational and hands-on pre-sales architecture knowledge across Cisco's core portfolio, including Enterprise Networking (Catalyst, Nexus, Meraki, SD-WAN) and Integrated Security (ISE, Secure Firewall, Duo, Umbrella, SASE).
• Proven track record of partnering with Account Executives to qualify, design, and close multi-million-dollar technology deals while displacing key competitors.
• Demonstrated ability to lead customer-facing engagements, technical discovery workshops, and architectural whiteboarding sessions with IT leaders and executive stakeholders.
• Solid understanding of the end-to-end technical sales process, including RFP/RFI responses, Proof of Value (PoV) execution, and competitive differentiation strategies.
• Ability to work in a hybrid, client-facing model across the McLean, VA / Research Triangle Park, NC corridor and travel as needed for customer and partner meetings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (with 7+ years of related experience), Master’s degree (with 6+ years of related experience), or PhD (with 3+ years of related experience) in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Active Cisco Professional or Expert level certification in good standing (CCNP Enterprise, CCNP Security, or CCIE).
• Hands-on experience with Network Automation, Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), Python scripting, REST APIs, or Ansible.
• Familiarity with Full-Stack Observability (FSO), telemetry, and network assurance platforms (Cisco ThousandEyes, Splunk, Catalyst Center).
• Knowledge of public sector, government, or regulated enterprise compliance baselines and security architectures (NIST SP 800-53, Zero Trust, FedRAMP).

THIS JOB DESCRIPTION DOES NOT APPLY FOR EMPLOYEES IN AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, FRANCE, GERMANY & NETHERLANDS

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.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $218,600.00 to $286,100.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 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, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s 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)

• 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

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$229,000.00 - $344,700.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$218,600.00 - $329,000.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.