Leader, Pre-Sales Solutions Engineer

Location: Any major U.S. city with a preference for Central or Pacific time zones. Application window expected to close 10/29/2026 (may close earlier if position is filled or sufficient applications received).

About the role

The Internet & Mass Scale Infrastructure (I&MI) team sits at the center of one of the most consequential shifts in technology today. We sell the routing and optical infrastructure that powers the internet, interconnects the world's largest data centers, and enables the AI era in close partnership with the Cisco Cloud and AI team. Our Americas team serves Webscalers / NeoClouds, Communication Service Providers, government agencies and enterprises building next-generation AI/ML infrastructure. We compete at the industry's highest technical bar, where deals are won on architecture, cost-per-bit, power efficiency, and operational simplicity.

Lead a world-class technical team, operate as a true business co-leader, and shape the infrastructure underpinning the internet and the AI era—with visibility to senior Cisco leadership and direct influence on our portfolio direction.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the team. Coach and grow a team of senior individual-contributor Systems Engineers; attract and retain top technical talent and build a culture of technical excellence.
• Own the technical strategy. Set the architectural point of view for the region across routing, optical, automation and assurance. Partner with the sales leader as an equal counterpart on strategy, resourcing, and execution.
• Drive customer outcomes. Guide solution architecture for AI/ML fabrics, mass-scale routing, data center interconnect, and converged IP+Optical networks. Represent the business in executive-level customer engagements, POCs, and competitive bake-offs.
• Influence the portfolio. Act as the primary technical bridge to the Business Unit and global sales technical leaders, feeding customer and market requirements into the product roadmap.

Requirements

• 7+ years in technical pre-sales, systems engineering, or network architecture including at least 3 years of people leadership
• Deep expertise in service provider or mass-scale / AI networking, including large-scale BGP, IP/MPLS, and modern transport architectures
• Proven ability to engage credibly with senior internal executive stakeholders and Principal Engineers, Chief Architects, and CTOs at large, sophisticated customers

Qualifications

• Experience with Webscale, Hyperscale, CSP, large financial enterprises or U.S. Federal customers
• Knowledge of Segment Routing (SR-MPLS/SRv6), coherent optics/DWDM, and Routed Optical Networking
• Familiarity with AI/ML fabric design and large-scale GPU cluster networking
• Understanding of disaggregated/open networking models and network automation
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent experience

Pay

The starting salary range posted for this position is $266,100.00 to $342,900.00 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. For quota-based sales roles on Cisco's sales plan, the ranges provided include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

• New York City Metro Area: $266,100.00 - $394,300.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $246,800.00 - $383,500.00

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their