Solutions Engineer-US Commercial, Los Angeles

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; Glendale (CA); On-site; USD 219,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with matching

Paid parental leave

Short/long‑term disability

Life insurance

Paid holidays

Vacation & paid time off

Sick time

Volunteer days

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a proactive Solutions Engineer in the Los Angeles area to co‑own the territory with an Account Executive. You will translate complex architectures into business value and guide customers through technical transformations.

You will leverage agentic AI, vibe coding, and automated workflows to accelerate discovery, deliver tailored demos, and build trusted relationships across engineering to C‑suite stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of pre‑sales engineering, technical consulting, or customer‑facing solutions architecture experience.
• Active industry certifications (e.g., Cisco CCNA/CCNP, AWS/Azure, Security, or equivalent industry‑recognised credentials).
• Demonstrated baseline knowledge across core networking, security, and cloud architectures, with a proven track record of driving technical pre‑sales cycles.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Business Ownership: Partner with your Account Executive to run your territory as a unified business unit.
• Full-Portfolio Technical Leadership: Serve as a trusted technical consultant across Cisco’s portfolio including Networking, Security, Observability, AI Infrastructure, and Automation.
• Customer Execution & Deliverables: Lead high‑impact technical engagements, including POVs and Bills of Materials.
• AI‑Driven Innovation & Agentic Ops: Integrate agentic AI and automated scripts into daily sales workflow to build prototype applications and accelerate discovery.
• Executive Relevance & High EQ: Translate dense architectures into clear business outcomes for executives and teams.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Work with regional teams, architecture specialists, and partners to deliver end‑to‑end solutions.

Skills

Pre-sales experience

Active certs (CCNA/CCNP, AWS/Azure)

Networking & cloud architectures

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/EE/IT

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/17/2026 Candidate must reside or be willing to relocate to the Los Angeles, CA area.

Meet the Team

In Commercial Sales, we operate at the intersection of technical excellence, rapid innovation, and strategic partnership. We succeed because we listen deeply, anticipate market shifts, and deliver transformative customer outcomes. Our culture relies on trust, continuous growth, high EQ, and cross‑functional collaboration. We are seeking a proactive, highly technical, and AI‑first Solutions Engineer to step in and co‑own our business in the region.

Your Impact

As a Solutions Engineer (SE), you will partner directly with an Account Executive to act as the “CEO & CTO” of your assigned territory. You will co‑lead account strategy, translate complex architectural concepts into clear business value, and build deep trust with customer stakeholders—from hands‑on engineers to C‑suite executives. You are an innovator and a daily user of modern AI. You leverage vibe coding, custom agents, and automated workflows to accelerate work, uncover deep customer insights, and demonstrate real‑world value. Representing Cisco’s full end‑to‑end portfolio, you will guide customers through technical transformations while maintaining a relentless focus on personal growth and technical excellence.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Strategic Business Ownership: Partner seamlessly with your Account Executive to run your territory as a unified business unit. Co‑own account planning, opportunity targeting, and revenue growth.
• Full-Portfolio Technical Leadership: Serve as a trusted technical consultant across Cisco’s entire portfolio, including Enterprise Networking, Security, Observability, Collaboration, AI Infrastructure, Agentic Ops, and Automation.
• Customer Execution & Deliverables: Lead and execute high‑impact technical engagements, including discovery workshops, custom solution demos, Architectural Roadmaps, Proofs of Value (POVs), and accurate Bills of Materials (BoMs).
• AI‑Driven Innovation & Agentic Ops: Integrate agentic AI, vibe coding, and automated scripts into your daily sales workflow to build prototype applications, streamline technical discovery, and model modern technical agility for customers.
• Executive Relevance & High EQ: Translate dense technical architectures into clear business outcomes. Present with confidence, authority, and empathy across all layers of leadership within customer organizations, internal Cisco teams, and the Channel partner community.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Serve as a generous team player, collaborating across regional teams, architecture specialists, business units, and channel partners to deliver cohesive end‑to‑end solutions.

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of pre‑sales engineering, technical consulting, or customer‑facing solutions architecture experience.
• Active industry certifications (e.g., Cisco CCNA/CCNP, AWS/Azure, Security, or equivalent industry‑recognised credentials).
• Demonstrated baseline knowledge across core networking, security, and cloud architectures, with a proven track record of driving technical pre‑sales cycles.

Preferred Qualifications

• Agentic AI & Vibe Coding Proficiency: Active, daily user of modern AI platforms with practical experience vibe coding, creating AI applications, building agents, and designing automated workflows to solve technical or operational problems.
• Executive Presence & Discovery Mastery: Outstanding discovery, presentation, and storytelling skills with a natural ability to teach, simplify complex topics, and influence executive decision‑makers.
• Growth Mindset: A proactive, self‑directed drive for continuous learning to stay ahead of rapid AI advancements and emerging technology shifts.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionising how data and infrastructure connect and protect organisations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $218,600.00 to $286,100.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job‑related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

New York City Metro Area: $229,000.00 - $344,700.00. Non‑Metro New York state & Washington state: $218,600.00 - $329,000.00. * For quota‑based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Benefits

• U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long‑term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.
• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non‑exempt employees 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year‑end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco.
• Non‑exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full‑time employees.
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations).
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next.
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members.
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.

For non‑sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance‑based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non‑quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan.

For quota‑based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows: 0.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota; 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%; 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation. For non‑quota‑based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.