Leader, Solutions Engineer - US Commercial, TN at Cisco · Knoxville

Leader, Solutions Engineer - US Commercial, TN
Location: Nashville, Tennessee, US
The application window is expected to close on: 10/08/2026
Candidate must reside or be willing to relocate to the Nashville, TN area.
Meet the Team
As we continue to uphold our standard of excellence in Commercial Sales, we are embracing unprecedented innovation as a tremendous opportunity for growth. We succeed because we listen to our customers and anticipate their needs as the market shifts and technology transitions accelerate. Our customers are versatile and agile and adopt technology fast to compete aggressively and grow their business. We are confident our Commercial model provides you with unlimited opportunities to succeed at Cisco. Our culture is one of support and empowerment.

Your Impact
You will provide technical direction and business guidance to the Region sales team. You will drive revenue through account planning, resource planning and allocation. You will actively develop and maintain a team of high-performing Solutions Engineers (SE’s) and continually seek creative methods for improving team performance. You will help meet Regional revenue goals by driving creative programs and leading day-to-day activities. You will lead and grow SE team talent with expertise and learn how to build a territory plan by compiling SE feedback and adding knowledge of market demand. You will create a technical resource plan for the territory and collaborate with the Regional Sales Leader to prioritize and target team opportunities and review quantitative information to identify and explain trends. You will understand mechanisms for establishing team capacity, improving team performance and aligning resources to deliver on commitments and get results.

Additional responsibilities include:
- Lead team to technical account strategies that align to customer business requirements and goals; assign resources appropriately
- Assist in qualified partner identification where appropriate
- Monitor and approve requests for customer-focused pre-sales resources
- Track and report team metrics for a given opportunity
-Monitor and measure team progress against business plan and recommend changes as needed
-Interact with business units to provide support for local region
-Lead multi-functional projects within area of responsibility
-Facilitate communications and understanding of customer requirements between customers, corporate and the field
-Actively seek feedback on self; recognize own capabilities and take initiative to continually improve
-Advocate for continual improvement in customer experience to increase brand loyalty for Cisco
-Understand drivers of customer satisfaction, strive to improve customer experiences and maintain and monitor high levels of customer satisfaction in assigned territory.

Minimum Qualifications
-7+ years of relevant experience in technical sales or Solutions Engineering roles, collaborating with sales and customer-facing teams to drive business results.
-B.S. Degree in technical related field or equivalent experience

Preferred Qualifications
-Leadership or team lead experience
-Practical experience integrating AI tools, automation scripts, and digital collaboration platforms into daily workflows to drive technical problem-solving, innovation, and cross-functional knowledge sharing.
-Experience in developing local knowledge of business economics and trends of various industries and vertical markets, and how Cisco solutions add financial and strategic value
-Advanced understanding of internetworking industry trends, including new products and solutions. Can articulate trade-offs between Cisco and competitor products
-Understand the customer's business model and has experience driving account and resource planning for region. Actively collaborate with Regional Manager to track plans and course correct as necessary. Communicate a clear vision and strategy for the account that inspires and empowers the team to execute within a common framework
-Understand the value of standard methodologies and apply methodologies and other tools to drive business results.
-Build the capabilities needed to deliver the team's short-and long-term goals, including identification and development of a strong pipeline of the best talent from both internal and external pools
-Executive communication and presentation skills
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 $208,200.00 to $264,400.00 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:
$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.
** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.
Additional Locations: Memphis, Tennessee, US, Knoxville, Tennessee, US