Presales Systems Engineer – Public Sector Regional

Fortinet, Inc.; Frankfurt; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Fortinet is seeking a Systems Engineer – SME for the Public Sector Regional, based in Frankfurt or Munich. You will support sales with technical pre-sales activities, understanding Fortinet portfolio and articulating its value to customers.

The role requires deep networking and security knowledge, German and English fluency, and travel up to 20–50% within the region.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in pre-sales for cybersecurity or networking products.
• Strong knowledge of Fortinet FortiOS and security technologies.
• Excellent communication with senior stakeholders in German and English.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate Fortinet solutions and articulate business value to customers.
• Lead technical discussions, demos, RfX, and PoCs across districts.
• Provide architecture guidance and best practices for opportunities.

Skills

Pre-sales experience

Networking

Security expertise

German and English

Travel willingness

Tools

Ansible

Terraform

Python

Job description

Presales Systems Engineer – Public Sector Regional

Job Info

• Job Identification 20701
• Job Category Systems Engineering
• Posting Date 09/17/2025, 10:51 AM
• Job Schedule Full time

Job Description

Systems Engineer – Subject Matter Expert (SME) – Public Sector Regional

Location: Frankfurt or Munich

Our company vision - a digital world you can always trust - is essential to achieving just and sustainable societies. We believe it is our responsibility to deliver on that vision by innovating sustainable security technologies, diversifying cybersecurity talent, and promoting responsible business across our value chain.

Fortinet Germany is outperforming the Security Market since several years, contributing consistent and high profitable revenue streams to Fortinet's global success. One of the key differentiators in the market is the Presales organization. The coverage and security technology competence level are outstanding and clearly above average vendor presence with the security industry.

Objective:

In this key role a Systems Engineer will work closely with a sales representative in a defined district. The Systems Engineer's main mission will be to support the sales organization in all technical matters regarding pre-sales, sales activities, and selected post-sales activities.

Responsibilities:

• Understanding of the Fortinet portfolio with the ability to demonstrate and articulate technical and business value.
• Strong foundational knowledge in security and networking technology and specifically in our "core technology", FortiOS-based products.
• Subject Matter Expert and first contact in an assigned technical domain within or across assigned sales district. Manage domain use cases, competitive intelligence, and differentiation.Excellent product integration & customization skills including relevant 3 rd party integrations.
• Create sales opportunities by identifying solutions to customer problems and assist in qualifying sales leads from a technical perspective. Discover opportunities to upsell and cross-sell Fortinet solutions. Initiate and influence project decisions.
• Manage and lead all aspects of the technical sales engagement from general queries to demos, RfX, and PoC's aroundfeatures, specifications, and functionality to integration.Provide architecture and implementation design consultation and best practice guidance for strategic opportunities.
• Act as trusted advisor for assigned accounts and maintain the technical relationship with the customer. Discover opportunities to upsell and cross-sell Fortinet solutions. Work closely with the regional escalation manager, technical support team and engineering to ensure customer's technical issues are answered and resolved.
• Collaborate with peers, Consulting System Engineers (CSE's), Solution Architects, Business Consultants, Professional Services and/or Partners on complex opportunities. Capture and manage customer requirements through the Consulting System Engineering Team to Product Management.
• Support Presales, Sales & Channel enablement activities and events.

Required Skills:

• Minimum of 5 years' experience in pre-sales support with proven success.
• Expert level knowledge in networking (LAN, WIFI, WAN, SDN, routing, switching), and network security (Next-Gen Firewalls, Intrusion Detection, encryption protocols).
• Strong customer focus to address complex technical and business requirements with a self-motivated, positive attitude. Goal-driven, adapting to shifting priorities, demands and timelines.
• Knowledge of the following domains is a plus:
  • Datacenter architectures (e.g. ACI, NSX-T)
  • Security Architectures (e.g. Zero Trust, SASE)
  • Modern Software Architectures (e.g. DevOps, IaC)
  • Cloud Architectures with at least one public cloud specialization
  • Security Operations (e.g. Orchestration, Automation, SIEM Tools)
  • IT Security standards (e.g. BSI 200-x, ISO2700x, COBIT, NIST) and/or relevant regulations (EU-DSGVO, BDSG, NIS-2/KRITIS).
• Excellent German and English language skills.
• Ability to interface with senior levels of internal / external organizations is required.
• Expert level verbal & written communication, presentation, prioritization, and interpersonal skills.
• Deep level experience in installation and configuration of network devices, systems (UNIX/Linux, Windows-based, virtualized and containers), public-clouds, and scripting (ideally Ansible, Terraform, Python with good knowledge of APIs).
• Willingness to travel 20-50% of time.

Fortinet is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity in our company, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.