Director, Solutions Engineer Forward Deployed - Splunk (Remote)

Application window expected to close November 10, 2026 (may close earlier if filled). This role can be performed anywhere in the United States.

About the Team

The Cisco-Splunk Forward Deployed Solutions Engineering (FDSE) team is an elite, hands-on technical organization that embeds directly alongside our most strategic global customers across the Americas to lead enterprise AI transformation with a tailored industry and public sector lens. We leverage the power of artificial intelligence to co-develop, integrate, and showcase 'art of the possible' prototype solutions that rapidly solve critical business challenges and accelerate production deployment. Positioned at the intersection of the Cisco portfolio and the Splunk Data Platform, our team establishes the industry benchmark for enterprise AI, observability, and data architecture excellence. We collaborate closely with Sales, Product & Technology, Software Engineering, Customer Success, and Global Partners to maximize customer focus and deliver transformative business value. Our community brings together visionary AI thought leaders, senior software engineers, and solutions architects who thrive in high-velocity, customer-embedded agile sprint environments.

Responsibilities

• Build, scale, and lead a high-performing team of customer-embedded Forward Deployed Solution Engineers operating across advanced AI deployments, cloud architectures, and mission-critical enterprise systems.
• Accelerate customer business outcomes, compress time-to-value, and deliver tangible technical proof that drives durable account retention and customer expansion.
• Hire, develop, and mentor top-tier engineering talent while fostering a culture of technical rigor, continuous learning, customer obsession, and extreme ownership.
• Partner directly with customer C-level technology executives, enterprise architects, and Cisco/Splunk product engineering leadership to translate real-world deployment telemetry into accelerated roadmap innovations.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in customer-facing pre-sales engineering, post-sales architecture, or professional services deploying distributed software and enterprise systems architectures (or Master's degree plus 8 years / PhD plus 5 years).
• Minimum 5 years of direct people management experience leading pre-sales, post-sales, or customer-embedded technical engineering teams driving business outcomes.
• Minimum 3 years of experience architecting, deploying, or managing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or enterprise data platform solutions in production environments.
• Minimum 3 years of experience designing and deploying distributed cloud-native, hybrid, or event-driven system architectures.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical professional experience).
• Travel requirements up to 50%.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading multi-level or matrixed technical organizations, with a demonstrated ability to build, scale, and inspire high-performing engineering teams.
• Minimum 3 years of experience with Generative and Agentic AI architectures, machine learning platforms, container orchestration (Kubernetes), and event-driven data platforms.
• Minimum 5 years of experience architecting solutions utilizing Cisco networking/security portfolios, the Splunk Data Platform, or equivalent premier enterprise software suites.
• Demonstrated ability to establish trusted advisory relationships with customer C-level technology executives (CTOs, CIOs, CDOs) and lead executive technical briefings.
• Active industry certifications in Artificial Intelligence or Cloud platforms, paired with proven experience implementing customer-embedded forward-deployed engineering methodologies.

Benefits

U.S. employees are offered benefits subject to Cisco's plan eligibility rules, including:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Short and long-term disability coverage
• Basic life insurance
• Grants of Cisco restricted stock units (vesting following continued employment for defined periods)

Paid time away (subject to Cisco 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
• 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees: 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees: flexible vacation time off program (no defined limit, subject to availability and business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward
• Additional paid time away for critical or emergency family issues
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

Employees in Illinois participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.

Pay

Starting salary range for U.S. and/or Canada locations: $320,600.00 to $407,100.00 (not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits). Individual pay determined by hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Location-specific ranges:

• New York City Metro Area: $320,600.00 - $468,200.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $307,600.00 - $447,000.00

For quota-based sales roles on Cisco's sales plan, ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined. Non-sales roles eligible for annual bonuses subject to Cisco policies.

Sales incentive structure (for employees on sales plans):

• Performance-based incentive pay on top of base salary, split between quota and non-quota components
• Quota-based incentive: 0.75% of incentive target per 1% revenue attainment up to 50% of quota; 1.5% per 1% between 50-75%; 1% per 1% between 75-100%; at or above 1% per 1% above 100% with no cap
• Non-quota-based strategic sales objectives: 0% up to 125% of target
• No minimum threshold for sales incentive compensation

Schedule

Travel up to 50% required.