Public Sector Senior Architect

F5 Networks, Inc.; Reston (VA); Hybrid; USD 266,000 - 399,000; Full time

Job summary

F5 Networks, Inc. is seeking a Solutions Architect to provide technical leadership and strategic insight across assigned regions.

You will collaborate with Sales, Product Management, and Services to map customer needs to F5 solutions, evangelize best practices, and coach the Solution Engineering community in a fast-paced environment. You will engage with Enterprise, Service Provider, and Public Sector customers, leverage Kubernetes, Docker, and AI-related concepts, and deliver compelling

Qualifications

• 8+ years of related industry experience.
• 5+ years in a presales role.
• BS/BA or equivalent work experience.
• Experience with Kubernetes and Docker.
• Knowledge of AI applications, models, and infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Work on strategic opportunities within the assigned region and provide technical expertise.
• Evaluate trade-offs between alternatives from technical and business perspectives.
• Act as an evangelist and thought leader in your area of technical specialization.
• Collaborate with other solution architects and internal business leaders to share ideas and identify customer pain points and trends.
• Provide mentorship to the Solution Engineering community in the organization.
• Work closely with product management and services teams to support launches and updates beneficial for customers.

Skills

Technical leadership

Presales experience

Public speaking

F5 solutions knowledge

AI awareness

Education

BS/BA or equivalent

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Nginx/Nginx Plus

API Gateway concepts

Job description

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

Solutions Architect Job Overview

The Solutions Architect (SA) position is a technical leadership role supporting a Sales region. Architects are typically assigned a technology area to focus on such as Cloud, AI, DevOps, Security, Service Provider. The SA’s primary function is to work collaboratively with Sales teams to identify appropriate F5 solutions to address customers’ business needs. They provide technical expertise and business understanding across specific or multiple industries. They champion our customers’ requirements and ensure they are understood across other teams within F5 such as Sales, Marketing, Product Management, and Product Development. The SA also shares knowledge and educates the solution engineering team internally and externally via whitepapers, trainings, blogs, tech-tips, presentations etc. To be effective, an SA needs to have excellent technical skills and knowledge of F5 products as well as the “eco-system” in which we operate. Just as importantly, an SA needs strong written and oral communication skills that allow them to translate deep technical concepts into language consumable by a wide-ranging audience. These audiences will range from senior leadership (c-suite) to deeply technical staff. Fear not, we do provide training and certification to keep abreast with these critical skills!

What you’ll do?

• Work on strategic opportunities within the assigned region/area of specialization and provide technical expertise
• Where multiple solutions exist, evaluate trade-offs between alternatives from technical and business perspectives
• Play the role of an evangelist, and thought leader in your area of technical specialization
• Quickly learn adjacent technologies when/where appropriate to extend core knowledge
• Collaborate with other solution architects and internal business leaders to share ideas, identify common customer pain points and trends and identify appropriate F5 solutions
• Work closely with our internal product management and services teams and provide technical and business understanding for product launches and updates that would be beneficial for our customers
• Provide mentorship as needed to the Solution Engineering community in the organization

How you’ll do it:

• Liaison between Sales and Marketing, Product Management, Product Development
• Experience working with strategic business opportunities across Enterprises, Service providers, and Public Sector customers.
• Advanced knowledge of modern apps and AI infrastructure competitive landscape
• Advanced experience with F5 solutions and automation (Application Delivery, Application Security, Automated threats, DevSecOps practices, Denial of Service, Authentication and Authorization, API)
• Experience with Kubernetes and Docker Containerization including automation tools, processes, logging and troubleshooting tools, and methods
• Experience with multiple Container Orchestration concepts and platforms
• Operational expertise on public cloud platforms from AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform
• Advanced knowledge of multiple Linux distributions including installation, system maintenance, application management, and tuning
• Competency in virtualization with experience launching virtual machines in both enterprise and cloud computing environments
• Experience with Nginx and Nginx Plus configuration and management
• Advanced knowledge with Kubernetes Ingress Controllers – testing, migration, troubleshooting
• Advanced experience with API Gateway concepts, operations, life cycles
• Knowledge of AI applications, models, systems, and infrastructure
• Understanding of machine learning models and natural language processing

What you’ll bring:

• Experience in speaking at industry/customer events, publishing whitepapers/solution articles, blogs, tech-tips etc
• Extensive experience making product demonstrations and technical presentations to technical and business leads
• Deep knowledge of F5 Solutions
• Knowledge of legacy technologies and their application in modern platforms, especially Linux, networking, or virtualization
• 8+ years of related industry experience
• 5+ years of presales role
• Relevant certifications a plus
• BS/BA or equivalent work experience

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The annual base pay for this position is: $266,100.00 - $399,100.00 F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change. You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice.

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination. F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting [e-mail].

Hybrid: Employees within 30 commutable miles of an F5 office are required to work from the office a minimum of 30 business days per quarter. Remote: Primarily work from designated home location but can come into an F5 office to work or travel to an offsite location as needed.

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive. Together, we're building a better digital world. Founded in 1996, F5 is a global leader in application delivery and security. Our premier platform helps customers secure and deliver every app, API, and piece of infrastructure across all environments. Backed by over three decades of expertise and 553 patents, our solutions protect against threats while ensuring fast, reliable digital experiences. With over 6,400 employees, we serve more than 23,000 customers in over 170 countries. To continue this work, we need people like you—the best minds in the industry. We're committed to a unique, human-first culture that encourages authenticity, prioritizes diversity and inclusion, and fosters the growth and success of our employees.