Director, Solutions Engineering, NA

Vantagedc; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Vantage seeks a Director of Solutions Engineering to drive the pre-sales function and design tailored data center solutions for leading customers. You will serve as the North America SME, collaborating with Sales, Design, Operations, and Legal to deliver scalable, compliant, and innovative infrastructure offerings.

The role blends customer engagement, technical excellence, and cross-functional coordination to ensure successful handoffs from sales to construction and delivery, with a focus on

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related field.
• 7–10 years in solutions engineering or a related field, with 3–5 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience in managing engineering teams and delivering complex technical solutions.

Responsibilities

• Engage customers to understand objectives, requirements, and challenges in pre-sales.
• Design customized data center solutions focusing on space, power, cooling, and connectivity.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure accurate handoffs from sales to delivery.
• Stay current on industry trends and provide market insights to leadership.
• Lead and mentor engineering teams in scalable, high-density data center projects.

Skills

Leadership

Pre-sales experience

Technical leadership

Client engagement

Communication

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or Computer Science

Job description

About Vantage

Vantage powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the world\'s well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

Position Overview

Vantage is seeking an accomplished and visionary Director of Solutions Engineering to help advance our Solutions Engineering function.

Join the world\'s leading data center experts and help design infrastructure solutions for some of the most innovative customers on the planet. As a Director of Solutions Engineering, you will play a critical role in the pre-sales process by providing technical expertise and designing tailored data center solutions that meet customer requirements for space, power, cooling, and connectivity.

Acting as a site-specific Subject Matter Expert (SME) for North America and new emerging markets, you will collaborate closely with Sales, other Solutions Engineers, Design Engineering, Design Management, Operations, Commercial Management, Construction and legal teams to drive successful outcomes-from initial customer engagement through seamless handoff to Construction Delivery and Technical Solutions and Delivery.

This role blends customer-facing engagement, technical design excellence, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver optimized, scalable solutions aligned with customer needs and company standards.

Essential Job Functions

Customer Engagement & Pre-Sales Support

• Engage with customers to understand business objectives, technical requirements, and operational challenges.
• Conduct site surveys, assessments, and onsite due diligence to gather detailed infrastructure and whitespace requirements.
• Support customer RFPs, RFIs, and technical due diligence activities with a focus on site-specific solutions.
• Present solutions to customers through technical presentations, workshops, demos, and site visits, clearly articulating features, benefits, and competitive advantages.
• Provide technical expertise during customer tours and solution presentations.

Technical Excellence

• Design customized data center solutions optimizing space, power, cooling, airflow, connectivity, telecoms, security, office, and storage as applicable.
• Act as the local SME for campuses, including whitespace design, inventory, pathways, connectivity, and capacity management.
• Develop detailed technical documentation, proposals, and Scopes of Work (SOW) including clarifications and risk considerations, in collaboration with Regional Design Engineers, and Asset management.
• Perform Service Order reviews and cost validation activities to ensure accuracy and alignment with customer requirements.

Commercial & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Obtain pricing and delivery timelines by working closely with design and construction teams along with commercial issuing Sales Engineering Pricing Requests (SEPRs) to Design, Engineering & Construction (DE&C) teams as required.
• Support sales forecasting, pipeline development, and market analysis efforts.
• Facilitate smooth transitions from sales to implementation by ensuring technical accuracy, consistency, and completeness of handoff documentation.

Market & Product Insight

• Stay current on industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in data center design through ongoing training and certifications.
• Serve as an asset and market expert, relaying insights to the Product, New Site Development, Market Development, Global Design, and company leadership teams.
• Gather and communicate customer and sales feedback to support continuous improvement of products, solutions, and go-to-market strategies.

Additional Duties

• Handle additional duties as assigned by Management.

Job Requirements

Education

• Bachelor\'s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, required.

Experience

• Minimum of 7-10 years of experience in solutions engineering or a related field, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience in managing engineering teams and delivering complex technical solutions.

Technical Expertise

• Proven experience designing high-density data center solutions, including power, cooling, airflow, and space optimization.
• Familiarity with AI and high-performance computing (HPC) environments, including GPUs and specialized processors.
• Knowledge of liquid cooling technologies and industry best practices.
• Strong understanding of data center power distribution, UPS systems, and electrical standards.
• Strong understanding of network architecture, fiber optics, and connectivity solutions.
• Strong technical background with a deep understanding of engineering principles, software development, and system architecture.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to bot