Director, Forward-Deployed AI Solutions

Cisco Systems, Inc; New York (NY); Remote; USD 321,000 - 468,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a senior leader to build and scale a customer-embedded Forward Deployed Solution Engineering team across AI deployments and enterprise systems.

You will work closely with executives to drive rapid value, architect scalable cloud-native solutions, and accelerate transformations at strategic customers. This role demands deep experience in pre-/post-sales, strong management skills, and a proven track record in AI/ML solution architecture.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in customer-facing pre-sales, post-sales, or professional services deploying distributed software and enterprise systems (or Master’s degree +8 years / PhD +5 years).
• 5+ years of direct people management experience leading pre-sales, post-sales, or customer-embedded technical teams.
• 3+ years architecting, deploying, or managing AI/ML or enterprise data platform solutions in production.
• 3+ years designing and deploying distributed cloud-native, hybrid, or event-driven system architectures.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related technical discipline (or equivalent practical professional experience).

Responsibilities

• Build, scale, and lead a high-performing team of customer-embedded Forward Deployed Solution Engineers.
• Accelerate customer outcomes, compress time-to-value, and drive durable account retention and expansion.
• Hire, develop, and mentor top-tier engineers with a culture of rigor and ownership.
• Partner with customer C-level tech executives to translate telemetry into accelerated roadmap innovations.

Skills

People leadership

Executive communication

Customer engagement

Pre-sales

Post-sales

AI/ML architecture

Cloud/SaaS architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related technical discipline

Tools

Kubernetes

Splunk Data Platform

Cisco networking/security portfolios

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. seeks a senior leader to build and scale a customer-embedded Forward Deployed Solution Engineering team across AI deployments and enterprise systems.

You will work closely with executives to drive rapid value, architect scalable cloud-native solutions, and accelerate transformations at strategic customers. This role demands deep experience in pre-/post-sales, strong management skills, and a proven track record in AI/ML solution architecture.