Director – Solutions Engineer Forward Deployed

The application window is expected to close on: 11/19/2026<p><b>This role can be performed anywhere in the United States.</b><br /><br /><b>The application window is expected to close on: </b><i>November 10, 2026</i></p><p><i>NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.<br /></i></p><p><b><br />Meet the Team<br /></b></p><p>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.<br /></p><p><b>Your Impact<br /></b></p><p>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.<br /></p><p><b>Minimum Qualifications<br /></b></p><p>·       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).</p><p>·       Minimum 5 years of direct people management experience leading pre-sales, post-sales, or customer-embedded technical engineering teams driving business outcomes.</p><p>·       Minimum 3 years of experience architecting, deploying, or managing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or enterprise data platform solutions in production environments.</p><p>·       Minimum 3 years of experience designing and deploying distributed cloud-native, hybrid, or event-driven system architectures.</p><p>·       Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical professional experience).</p><p><b>Travel requirements up to 50%</b><br /></p><p><b>Preferred Qualifications<br /></b></p><p>·       Experience leading multi-level or matrixed technical organizations, with a demonstrated ability to build, scale, and inspire high-performing engineering teams.</p><p>·       Minimum 3 years of experience with Generative and Agentic AI architectures, machine learning platforms, container orchestration (Kubernetes), and event-driven data platforms.</p><p>·       Minimum 5 years of experience architecting solutions utilizing Cisco networking/security portfolios, the Splunk Data Platform, or equivalent premier enterprise software suites.</p><p>·       Demonstrated ability to establish trusted advisory relationships with customer C-level technology executives (CTOs, CIOs, CDOs) and lead executive technical briefings.</p><p>·       Active industry certifications in Artificial Intelligence or Cloud platforms, paired with proven experience implementing customer-embedded forward-deployed engineering methodologies.<br /><br />THIS JOB DESCRIPTION DOES NOT APPLY FOR EMPLOYEES IN AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, FRANCE, GERMANY & NETHERLANDS</p><p></p><h1>Why Cisco? </h1><p>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.</p><p>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. </p><p>We are Cisco, and our power starts with you. </p><p></p><h1>Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:</h1><p></p>The starting salary range posted for this position is $320,600.00 to $407,100.00 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.<p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:</p><ul><li><p>10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees</p></li><li><p>1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco</p></li><li><p>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</p></li><li><p>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)</p></li><li><p>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</p></li><li><p>Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members</p></li><li><p>Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer</p></li></ul><p></p><p>For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.</p><p></p><p>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:</p><ul><li><p>.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;</p></li><li><p>1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;</p></li><li><p>1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and</p></li><li><p>Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.</p></li></ul><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:</p><p></p><p>New York City Metro Area:</p>$320,600.00 - $468,200.00<p></p><p>Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:</p>$307,600.00 - $447,000.00<p></p><p>* 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.</p><p>** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.</p>