Sr Director, Solutions Engineering

NetApp, Inc.; Bengaluru; Hybrid; INR 6,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Job summary

NetApp, Inc. is seeking a high-impact Area SE Senior Director to partner with the Area VP and GEO leadership to shape strategy and drive execution across multiple countries.

You will lead a future-ready SE organization, align local priorities with global strategy, and deliver evidence-based insights to senior leadership. You will own technical execution, build leadership capabilities, and work with sales to translate market data into strategic plans.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive technical leadership experience within enterprise infrastructure, AI, cloud, data management, storage, or adjacent technology markets.
• Senior leadership experience in Solutions Engineering, Presales, Technical Sales or Enterprise Technology leadership within a global technology organization.
• Deep understanding of enterprise infrastructure, AI, Intelligent Data Infrastructure, Hybrid Multicloud, Cybersecurity and Data Management technologies.
• Significant executive customer engagement and strategic account leadership experience, with credibility to influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong business acumen with experience influencing product direction, go-to-market strategy and business priorities through customer, partner and market insights.
• Exceptional communication, executive presence and talent leadership capabilities; Bachelor's degree required; advanced qualifications preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own Technical Execution and Business Impact; prioritize customer and business outcomes; showcase SE contributions.
• Build a Future-Ready Organisation; develop talent and leadership through coaching and growth.
• Partner with Sales Leadership and the Area VP; shape strategy, provide technical perspectives, inform go-to-market.
• Connect Field Reality to Portfolio and Go-to-Market; translate insights into clear recommendations.
• Represent and Advocate for the Area; present needs, remove barriers, engage with GEO/WW leaders.
• Lead Organisational Transformation; evolve SE capabilities, culture, and operating models.
• Operate as a GEO Leadership Team; ensure standards, address issues, and drive enterprise success.

Skills

Executive leadership

Solutions Engineering leadership

Pre-sales leadership

Enterprise technology leadership

Strategic account leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced business/technical qualifications

Job description

Job Summary

The Area SE Senior Director is a strategic leader partnering with the Area VP, Geo SE Leader, and SE Directors to shape strategy and ensure execution. This role builds a future-ready SE organisation, advocates for customer and market needs, and balances local and GEO priorities.

As a senior leader, the Director shares accountability with the Area VP for business outcomes. Operating across multiple countries, they translate WW and GEO strategy into local priorities and provide evidence-based insights to GEO leadership.

1. Own Technical Execution and Business Impact Prioritise key customer, partner, and business outcomes; enhance architecture quality; improve opportunity management; and showcase SE contributions through technical wins, operational excellence, pipeline influence, competitive success, and market growth. Drive adoption of NetApp's AI and Intelligent Data Infrastructure by partnering on strategic transformations.

2. Build a Future-Ready Organisation Develop technical talent and leadership through coaching, feedback, and targeted growth. Strengthen succession, close capability gaps, and foster an inclusive, high-performing culture with clear expectations and accountability. Build capabilities supporting NetApp's AI, cloud, and technology goals.

3. Partner with Sales Leadership and the Area VP Shape Area strategy, priorities, and execution collaboratively. Provide credible technical perspectives, use market evidence to inform decisions, and partner with sales leadership on strategic planning and go-to-market efforts. Serve as a trusted advisor on technology transformation and AI adoption.

4. Connect Field Reality to Portfolio and Go-to-Market Gather Area insights for Product Leaders. Translate customer, partner, competitive, and market data, including AI use cases and adoption challenges, into clear recommendations guiding portfolio, product, enablement, and go-to-market decisions. Participate in feedback loops and communicate outcomes to the field.

5. Represent and Advocate for the Area Present customer, partner, market, and resource needs; synthesize evidence into recommendations; build support cases; and collaborate with GEO and WW leaders to remove execution barriers. Represent NetApp in executive engagements, partner ecosystems, and industry forums to strengthen its AI leadership.

6. Lead Organisational Transformation Challenge current practices, remove execution barriers, and lead experimentation to evolve SE capabilities, culture, and operating models. Align the organisation with NetApp's growth ambitions by building technical capability and execution discipline to accelerate AI and cloud growth and position the NetApp Platform as the AI era's intelligent data infrastructure. Enable teams to convert customer use cases and partnerships into adoption, pipeline, and growth.

7. Operate as a GEO Leadership Team Collaborate with the GEO SE Leader and SE Directors to set standards, share capabilities, address systemic issues, and ensure consistent execution. Prioritise enterprise success over local optimisation and execute agreed decisions collectively.

Job Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive technical leadership experience within enterprise infrastructure, AI, cloud, data management, storage, or adjacent technology markets, including responsibility for leading and scaling pre-sales or Solutions Engineering organizations.
• Senior leadership experience in Solutions Engineering, Presales, Technical Sales or Enterprise Technology leadership within a global technology organization, with a proven track record of leading leaders and building high-performing technical organizations.
• Deep understanding of enterprise infrastructure, AI, Intelligent Data Infrastructure, Hybrid Multicloud, Cybersecurity and Data Management technologies, with the ability to translate technology strategy into business outcomes.
• Significant executive customer engagement, customer transformation and strategic account leadership experience, with the credibility to influence senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Strong business acumen with experience influencing product direction, go-to-market strategy and business priorities through customer, partner and market insights.
• Exceptional communication, executive presence and talent leadership capabilities, with demonstrated success developing future leaders and building diverse, high-performing teams. Bachelor's degree required; advanced business or technical qualifications preferred.

At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

Why You'll Thrive at NetApp

At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure.

NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.

Our culture

We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.

If you're ready to innovate, rise to the challenge, and own every moment - make your next move your best one.

AI Disclosure

For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support - rather than replace - human decision-making.