Solutions Engineer, Federal

The application window is expected to close on: 11/12/2026
Candidates must relocate or live in the listed Territory

USA

Meet the Team

You will join one of the most elite, experienced, and respected systems engineering organizations in the IT industry. Our Federal Civilian Systems Engineering team covers a broad portfolio of cabinet-level and independent federal agencies, recognized for deep technical mastery, an average tenure of over 10 years at Cisco, and an elite network of decorated CCNP and CCIE practitioners. We are deeply anchored in customer mission success—protecting public health, citizen services, scientific research, and nationwide federal operations.

In this role, you will partner directly with Federal Account Executives and agency engineering leadership to architect resilient, scalable, and automated technical architectures that advance federal mission modernization.

What You'll Do

As a Senior Solutions Engineer on the Federal Civilian team, your core mission encompasses five key strategic pillars:

- Strategic Technical Advisory & Customer Advocacy: Serve as the primary technical authority, trusted advisor, and pre-sales architecture lead for designated U.S. Federal Civilian Agencies, building enduring relationships with agency CIOs, CISOs, and Lead Architects.
- Federal Architecture & Zero Trust Design: Design, validate, and defend end-to-end multi-tier network and security architectures complying with Federal mandates (OMB M-22-09 Zero Trust, NIST SP 800-53, FedRAMP, and Post-Quantum Cryptography readiness).
- Proof of Value (PoV) & Competitive Bake-Offs: Lead hands-on technical Proof of Value trials, live demonstrations, and architectural bake-offs to prove Cisco’s differentiated value across complex federal environments.
- RFI/RFP Proposal Leadership & Deal Strategy: Author technical specifications, architectural diagrams, and compliance matrices for complex federal RFIs, RFPs, and task orders across GSA, SEWP, and agency-specific contract vehicles in lockstep with Federal Account Executives.
- Network Automation & Operational Modernization: Educate federal engineering teams on modern Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), REST APIs, Python tooling, and telemetry frameworks (ThousandEyes / Splunk) to accelerate Day-0 to Day-2 operational efficiency.

Minimum Qualifications

- 7+ years of related technical pre-sales, systems engineering, or senior enterprise consulting experience supporting complex network architectures.
- Active professional or expert-level Cisco certification in good standing (CCNP Enterprise / Security or CCIE).
- Hands-on pre-sales architecture expertise across core Enterprise Route/Switch and SD-WAN (Catalyst 9000, Nexus 9000 NX-OS, Catalyst 8000 SD-WAN, BGP, OSPF, EVPN/VXLAN).
- Demonstrated proficiency in Cisco Integrated Security and Zero Trust solutions (Identity Services Engine [ISE], Secure Firewall / FTD, Duo Security, Umbrella, SASE/SSE).
- U.S. Citizenship required to comply with federal customer site access, background investigation, and security clearance requirements (ability to obtain/maintain Public Trust or Secret).

Preferred Qualifications

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical experience).
- Active Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure, Routing & Switching, or Security).
- Direct experience supporting U.S. Federal Civilian Government Agencies with practical knowledge of federal acquisition frameworks (SEWP, GSA).
- Experience with Full-Stack Observability (FSO) and Assurance platforms (Cisco ThousandEyes, Splunk, Catalyst Center).
- In-depth understanding of Federal Cloud Security baselines and compliance standards (FedRAMP High/Moderate, FIPS 140-3, OMB M-22-09).

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.