Solutions Engineer - Federal

The application window is expected to close on: 10/15/2026
The application window is expected to close no later than October 30, 2026.

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

US Citizenship is required and preferred location is the Washington DC, Maryland, or Northern Virginia area.

Meet the Team

A team of seven (7) hard charging, technically skilled engineers passionate about driving outcomes by blending business requirements with technology solutions and working hard on customer success.

As Solution Engineers, primarily focus is on driving sales and solutions to meet our customers’ most demanding challenges.  Cisco has one of the most complete and end to end portfolios, where learning and challenging yourself in growth is just second nature.

While our team is passionate about driving value to a large number of Federal Civilian customers, each Solutions Engineer is tied to specific set of business and driven to meet or exceed the sales goals assigned to that customer.   However, we know we have other teammates that may need help and we highly encourage team sharing and helping…no one left behind!

The team is seven Senior level engineers, 90% of them are certified in various technology domains from CCNP, CCIE’s, Cloud certs, and more.  The team is seasoned and the team average for time at Cisco is about 15 years!  Yes, 15 years and counting and signals the togetherness and respect each member has for each other.  Route, Switch, Collab, Security, WAN, DataCenter, Cloud and more, we have a wealth of knowledge on our team, and we are looking to add another great engineer!

Engineers on this team range in age and experience – some having their first child, and others having kids married with kids of their own – but the one thing we share is a good laugh, compassion for each other, when vital, excitement for each other successes, and overall just appreciate the vast talent of this team.  We have serious folks, jokesters, BitCoin Expert, BeeKeeper, AI Song writer, Kids Coaches, Soccer fans, football fans, baseball fans….well you get it – a wide range of folks and Yes, a good balance of work and life.

Your Impact

The Solution Engineer (SE) at Cisco is not just a job, it is a role carrying a high degree of importance in the overall success of our customers.  You are your own CTO, the leader of technical engagements and direction of the team covering your agencies.

At the end of the day, your role is to team with a Sales Account Executive, and together, solve your customers’ most demanding and impactful challenges.

The SE is partnered with an AE (Account Executive).  The AE is the CIO and the SE is the CTO.  Partnered, you listen and learn, each having a job to do.  As the SE, you partner, by helping propose technology solutions to meet customers’ needs and ultimately retiring quota to meet the demands of the business.

Success at Cisco is measured in many ways of which one is meeting the 1H goal assigned to your accounts through successful engagements – nothing new to sales!As an SE, your North star is centered around Customer Success.  This is broad and customer dependent, but your customer is happy with Cisco Products/solutions they have acquired, solutions are adopted, and maximum use is being recognized.

With any job, there are external demands and internal demands.  The SE is expected to have good sound time management skills to address the many and dynamics needs of this position. Technology knowledge growth – if you like to be challenged, can not think a better company to test your skills and push you to grow. It is a goal for each SE to be proficient in Routing, Switching, Security, Data Center, and if lucky – collaboration! Quarterly learning, certifications, and plenty of other specialists surrounding you to learn, exchange, and grow together.

Our customers expect us to show up with our best every day. At Cisco, we are living in the AI era.  As an employee you will be assigned an AI Agent that you are encouraged to leverage and help you become an even better version of yourself.  Allow your agent to do many of the time-consuming tasks that keep you from accomplishing your toughest most critical goals and elevating your North Star which is customer success.

Minimum Qualifications:

- Deep Routing and Switching knowledge is table stacks (strong BGP, OSPF, VXLAN Fabric technologies, deployment, architectural, and operational knowledge in these areas.
- Previous sales engineering experience – five years or more Willing to travel to meet customers where they are – and of course – Cisco has technology to facilitate hybrid meetings – but travel will be required
- Security and Collaboration, having baseline understanding and ability to talk through key aspects of Zero Trust and a broad understanding of Voice and Collaboration solutions and they interact with campus, Datacenter, and WAN architectures
- Understanding of APIs and how they are leverage in automation for Operations improvements. Living in Washington DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia highly recommended

Preferred Qualifications:

- Demonstrate strong verbal and written communication skills Route, Switch, Security, and Datacenter deep dive skills is preferred
- Experience in Federal Civilian Agencies and ability to lead a room
- Experience in dealing with very large Enterprise Architectures with high degree of complexity.
- CCIE in Route/Switch, Security, Data Center (either a single or multiple certs)
- Good working knowledge of cloud solutions, and ability to lead teams when challenges arise, keeping focus on customer success

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.