RUCKUS Principal Systems Engineer

Belden Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision

401(k) Plan

Paid holidays

Paid vacation

Job summary

Belden Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a Principal Systems Engineer to lead strategic customer opportunities and drive product adoption across wireless, wired, cloud-managed, and edge networking.

You will collaborate with sales, product, engineering, QA, TAC, and alliance partners to design, validate, and mature RUCKUS solutions in complex environments, translating requirements into actionable plans. Strong executive communication and cross-functional influence are essential, as is hands-on

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree with 10+ years in IP networking, wireless technologies, pre-sales engineering, or equivalent technical leadership.
• Demonstrated success supporting major customer opportunities, pipeline tracking, executive engagement, and revenue contribution across strategic verticals.
• Ability to travel up to 40% of the time depending on business needs.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, high-value opportunities from discovery through design, validation, positioning, and closure.
• Provide advanced solution architecture, network design, PoC execution, and customer-facing business-value demonstrations.
• Serve as SME for RUCKUS wireless, wired, software, cloud, and edge portfolio with focus on One adoption and migrations.
• Translate customer requirements into product feedback, feature requests, bug reports, and field guidance.
• Drive product quality and maturity by partnering with PLM, Engineering, QA, TAC, TME, and field teams.

Skills

Pre-sales engineering

Executive communication

Network architecture

802.11 wireless design

Cloud-managed networking

Automation & scripting

Cross-functional influence

Enablement content creation

Field leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

RUCKUS Principal Systems Engineer

Date: Sep 16, 2026

Location: Santa Clara, CA, US, 95054

Company: Belden Inc

Innovation Starts With You

Propel your career at Belden, where innovation creates possibilities-for our people, our customers, and the communities we serve. We connect people, information, and ideas to solve the world's most complex connectivity challenges, turning curiosity into meaningful impact. Here, you'll take on work that challenges you, supports your growth, and empowers you to shape what's next. You'll collaborate with global teams, gain diverse perspectives, and contribute to solutions that extend beyond our business-creating value in the world around us.

Together, we are shaping the future of digitization and paving the way for the next generation of innovation.

Principal Systems Engineer

In our 'always on' world, we believe it's essential to have a genuine connection with the work you do.RUCKUS Networks builds and delivers purpose-driven networks that perform in the tough environments of the industries we serve.

RUCKUS Networks is seeking a Principal Systems Engineer to provide senior technical leadership across strategic customer opportunities, product adoption, field enablement, and product innovation. This role partners with sales, channel, product, engineering, QA, TAC, TME, and alliance teams to design, position, validate, and improve RUCKUS solutions for complex customer environments.

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in wireless, wired, cloud-managed, controller-based, edge networking, automation, and customer operations with strong executive communication and cross-functional influence.

How You Will Help Us Connect the World

• Partner with sales teams, channel partners, and strategic customers to drive complex opportunities from discovery through design, validation, competitive positioning, and closure.
• Lead high-value vertical and enterprise opportunities, including disciplined tracking, executive engagement, technical differentiation, and measurable contribution to revenue outcomes.
• Provide advanced pre-sales support, including solution architecture, network design, proof-of-concept execution, technical demonstrations, and customer-facing business-value positioning.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for the RUCKUS wireless, wired, software, cloud, controller, and edge-networking portfolio, with focus on RUCKUS One adoption, product maturity, migrations, and customer success.
• Lead field validation of emerging platforms, environments, large-scale deployments, and migration programs.
• Translate customer and field requirements into product feedback, feature requests, defect reports, technical guidance, and quality improvements.
• Drive product quality and maturity by partnering with PLM, Engineering, QA, TAC, TME, and field teams to resolve field-discovered issues and improve feature readiness.
• Build organizational capability through reusable labs, demo programs, onboarding support, mentoring, and scalable enablement content.
• Support technical alliance initiatives through solution guides, interoperability validation, and feature-maturity collaboration with third-party ecosystem partners.
• Provide field leadership through PRD/HLD reviews, interlocks, prioritization, summary materials, and follow-up deliverables.

Required Skills

• Advanced understanding of pre-sales engineering, enterprise account strategy, partner engagement, and execution of complex, high-value opportunities.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to present technical solutions, competitive positioning, and business value to executive, technical, partner, and internal audiences.
• Ability to translate customer business drivers into network architectures, migration plans, product requirements, and scalable field guidance.
• Strong technical knowledge of 802.11 a/g/n/ac/ax/be wireless design, RF engineering, troubleshooting, optimization, IP routing and switching, WAN/LAN design, security authentication, RADIUS/AAA, virtualization, and cloud environments.
• Working knowledge of automation, AI/ML-adjacent technologies, GitHub-based collaboration, scripting, and operational tooling.
• Demonstrated ability to influence product quality and roadmap outcomes through bug reporting, feature-request development, customer-impact analysis, and cross-functional engagement.
• Experience creating enablement assets such as hands-on labs, advanced training, webinars, technical guides, migration playbooks, demo scripts, and repeatable solution documentation.
• Ability to build trusted relationships across sales, engineering, product, QA, TAC, alliance partner, and global SE teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree along with 10+ years of relevant experience in IP networking, wireless technologies, pre-sales engineering, solution architecture, product enablement, or equivalent technical field leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success supporting major customer opportunities, pipeline tracking, executive engagement, and revenue contribution across strategic vertical markets.
• Ability to troubleshoot complex customer, partner, and product issues, including escalation analysis, defect documentation, reproduction support, and impact mitigation.
• Effective technical presentation and enablement skills, including demos, conferences, field training, webinars, partner enablement, and executive briefings.
• Strong documentation skills, including solution guides, summary decks, product feedback, and field best practices.
• Ability to travel up to 40% of the time depending on business needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting MDU, hospitality, education, public sector, service provider, enterprise, manufacturing, warehousing, or logistics environments.
• Knowledge of OT environments in manufacturing and hospitality, including network design, segmentation, security, reliability, and operational support considerations.
• Hands-on experience with RUCKUS One, SmartZone-to-RUCKUS One migrations, cloud-managed networking, product readiness, customer adoption, and field-led maturity efforts.
• Experience validating emerging architectures, including large-scale AP deployments, edge networking, cloud-managed services, and migrations.
• Experience working with technical alliance partners and ecosystem tools for wireless design, simulation, security integration, network planning, and operational validation.
• Advance innovation through automation assets, scripts, repositories, and operational tools that improve customer, partner, and SE productivity.
• Certifications through CWNP or other network certifications.

Compensation

Our salary ranges consider a wide variety of factors, including but not limited to benchmarking by independent third-party consultants, skill sets, years of experience, training, education, geography, and other business needs. Depending on experience, the range can be higher for candidates with exceptional experience and a demonstrated history of successful performance. This position's expected total compensation, including base salary and commission range, is $220,000 - $300,000.

Benefits

The candidate will be rewarded with a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, life and accidental death insurance, a 401(k) plan, and participation in the Company's Incentive Plan. Candidates starting with the Company will be eligible for eleven paid holidays in a full calendar year, two weeks of paid vacation, prorated based on start date, as well as other leave options.

Nearest Major Market

San Jose

Nearest Secondary Market

Palo Alto

Let’s Create Possibilities Together.

Join a global community shaping the future of intelligent connectivity. At Belden, you'll help push the boundaries of technology and write the next chapter of innovation, creating possibilities for your career, your future, and the world around you.

These statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work involved for this job. It is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of this job.