Columbia, South Carolina, United States
The application window is expected to close on: 09/14/2026
Meet the Team
As a Solutions Engineer, you will partner primarily with an Account Executive. In addition, you will work with Portfolio Account Teams, Partners and other cross-functional teams to drive Cisco Networking brand preference with our customers. This role needs to be located in Charlotte, NC or Columbia, SC only. No relocation will be offered at this time.
Working directly with customers, you will capture detailed knowledge of requirements and provide recommendations for the best products and solutions to achieve the desired business outcomes. As a Networking SE Specialist, you will also collaborate with the various Business Entity teams to prioritize and influence features and capabilities roadmap to meet growing customer demands.
Your Impact
You will work with the Americas Networking Organization as a Solutions Engineer. You will form relationships with our customer’s key decision- makers, showcase Cisco Networking products and solutions with a focus on Secure networking including Routing, Switching, Wireless, and Automation, lead RFP response(s), set up demonstrations, drive proof of values, explain features and benefits to customers, and compose and configure products to meet specific customer requirements.
The Solutions Engineer has a passion for technology and a zeal for customer interaction! This is a pre-sales, technical role passionate about architectural selling covering customers from all verticals and segments in the America’s. You should excel in communicating technical architectures, solutions and products to key decision- makers from Managers to Directors and above. They should be comfortable speaking publicly to both small and large audiences.
You will keep up to date on networking trends, competitive solutions products and services. You will work with a variety of technologies and will therefore need strong cross-functional teamwork and consultative skills. The capacity to demonstrate technical solutions and capabilities effectively and conduct multi-architectural Proof-of-Concept (PoC) tests is a must.
Key areas of responsibility include:
• Partner with Account Executives to drive business and growth opportunities
• Driving demand generation activities
• Enable technology capabilities internally with Portfolio Account Teams and externally with our partners.
• Understanding customer requirements and mapping technical solutions to meet the needs
• Network design
• Deep product and solution knowledge: Product positioning, differentiation across solutions, operational characteristics
• Performing product demo and Proof of Concept (PoC) labs
• Maintaining competitive knowledge to strategically position Cisco’s products and services
• Following market transition and industry trends to anticipate customer needs
• Aligning cross-functionally to various business entities and teams across the company
• Challenger mindset willing to help customers with complex/challenging digital transformation opportunities
Minimum Qualifications:
• 5+ years of proven experience sizing and crafting Routing, Wireless and Switching deployments both On-Prem and Cloud Based.
• 5+ years of developed skills and knowledge in networking protocols (TCP/IP, BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, LISP) network segmentation technologies (VRF, MPLS, ZeroTrust, SDA, 802.1x, Adaptive Policy), and network management.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Understanding of competitive networking products such as HPE/Aruba, Juniper, Arista, Fortinet
Preferred Qualifications:
• Pre-sales experience
• Typically requires BS/BA (preferably EE/CS) or equivalent
• Can work under pressure with minimum supervision.
• Critical thinking to address customer concerns and to support customer business growth.
• Customer-focused attitude.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Cisco and non-Cisco Certifications a plus (CCIE, CCDE, CCNP, DevNet, AWS, Google, Terraform)
• API and programmability knowledge is a plus
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.
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:
$212,200.00 - $308,300.00Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:
$202,400.00 - $296,900.00* 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.
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