Staff Solutions Engineer - FDSE

The application window is expected to close on: 11/19/2026

This role can be performed anywhere in the United States.

The application window is expected to close on 

Nov 20, 2026

NOTE: Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.   

Meet the Team  

• The Cisco Forward Deployed Solutions Engineering (FDSE) team is a high-impact, elite hands-on engineering team that works directly alongside our most strategic global customers based in Americas to lead the AI transformation with an industry or government entity lens.    

• The goal is to leverage the power of AI to co-develop, innovate, integrate and show art of the possible solutions exceeding our customers' most critical business outcomes with fast time to value to prototype for future production environments. 

• Sitting at the intersection of the most powerful and complete AI solution in the world with the Cisco portfolio powered by the Splunk Data Platform, our team is poised to lead the market and set the standard for AI excellence.  

• This team will work closely with Sales, Product and Technology, Software Development, Customer Success and Partners to maximize customer focus, leveraging the power of Cisco team and portfolio to exceed expectations. 

• This is a critical team of AI thought leaders operating in a high-velocity, collaborative community of senior software engineers, solution architects, and data platform engineers who thrive in agile, customer-embedded sprint environments.  

Your Impact  

• Cisco is looking for an accomplished, AI skilled, hands-on, experienced, and visionary Forward Deployed Solution Engineer (FDSE) with post-sales and/or pre-sales experience to leverage AI to build, scale, and lead customer business outcomes. 

• Compress customer time-to-value by architecting and proto-typing art of the possible solutions with the customer uniquely leveraging Cisco AI infrastructure and the Splunk portfolio into complex, heterogeneous enterprise environments. 

• Singular focus as an embedded engineer is to influence technical decision markers by strategically accelerating customer business outcomes, compressing time to value, and delivering tangible proof to drive durable growth through customer retention and growth. 

• Collaborate directly with Cisco product engineering teams to provide field-level insights, helping evolve our AI-integrated portfolio to meet the next generation of infrastructure demands. 

• Mentor and collaborate with a world-class team of Forward Deployed Solution Engineers. foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, customer obsession, and high ownership. 

 

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical engineering experience. 

• 9+ years of professional experience in post-sales and / or pre-sales roles working directly with customers on distributed software and system architecture deployments. 

• 3+ years' experience in Generative and Agentic AI, machine learning platforms, container orchestration (Kubernetes), and event-driven architectures across cloud-native + hybrid platforms and large-scale enterprise data architectures. 

• AI experience realizing customer business outcomes with fast time to value 

Preferred Qualifications

• 7+ year track record of leading technical customer-facing engagements handling ambiguous, high-impact enterprise projects    

• 5+ years Cisco and Splunk experience and/or equivalent from a top competitor 

• Ability to articulate how AI and automation can be leveraged to solve complex business problems and achieve rapid ROI. 

• Narrative skills, with the ability to bridge the gap between deep technical AI implementation and executive-level business requirements. 

• AI, Data Science and Enterprise certifications and/or education  THIS JOB DESCRIPTION DOES NOT APPLY FOR EMPLOYEES IN AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, FRANCE, GERMANY & NETHERLANDS

Why Cisco? 

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations 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 $266,100.00 to $342,900.00 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.

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. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks.  Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 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:

• .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.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$266,100.00 - $394,300.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$246,800.00 - $383,500.00

* 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.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.