Senior Specialty Solutions Engineer-Network

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation. At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD.  We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived.  We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD.  The AHEAD Senior Specialty Solutions Engineer-Network, will be focused on the core tenets of Network and Network Security related solutions for AHEAD prospects and customers including a broad range of technologies.  As a member of our Specialty Solutions Engineering team, you will be considered an organizational thought leader for this marketplace. You will work in partnership with multiple sales representatives to help build a cohesive account strategy for each existing and prospective client. As part of this strategy, you will help sales representatives identify potential technologies and vendors to partner within a given account and assist in driving this strategy throughout a given campaign.  Time management and prioritization are essential attributes to being successful. Your goal is to evolve into the technical thought leader for each of your clients. In this capacity, you will work to define strategy, compare alternative approaches, and build key relationships, as well as size and configure products. Positioning and leveraging subject matter experts and inside consultants is a necessity to scale your effectiveness within accounts.  AHEAD is actively recruiting for this role and is looking for candidates who consider themselves as a “Next Generation Network Architect.”  A core tenet and base requirement for this position is understanding and mastery of Cisco Route/Switch, Datacenter technologies and LAN technologies (LAN/Wireless).  Outside of this core tenet, our expectation is to attract, recruit and attain resources who have a desire to focus not only on traditional on-premise Cisco solutions, but also to be looking to career, technology and skill advancement by being actively willing to demonstrate skills and ability to learn new technologies including multiple SDN solutions, network security, load balancing, edge / acceleration, and cloud technologies. Understanding that the impetus and impact of Cloud computing is real and should be incorporated into solutions is key.   Experience or eagerness to learn about and with network and system / access design with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure or other cloud services is a key requirement. Roles & Responsibilities:

Participation, Leadership and Coordination of the AHEAD virtual team for Network Infrastructure

You will also be responsible for working with the AHEAD partner management team and directly with selected vendors to maintain vendor technical and sales relationships

As a Network Specialist you are a thought leader within the Engineering organization, responsible for designing, architecting, and, at times, consulting for Ahead clients

Your goal as a Network Lead should be to build skills, relationships, and industry credibility across many segments to drive product, services and consulting sales

Support the sales teams during engagements by providing advice and solutions or proposals optimized to meet customer technical and business requirements 

Develops relationships with the account managers, partners and customers in support of sales team objectives and engages and leverages team specialist resources as appropriate 

Strategizes and executes technical sales calls 

Completes required pre-sales documentation (configurations, pricing, services, presentations, justifications etc.) quickly and accurately 

Qualifies sales opportunities in terms of customer technical requirements, decision making process and funding 

Presents and markets the design and value of proposed Ahead solutions and business justification to customers, prospects and Ahead management 

Participates in mentorship of entry-level team members 

Possesses strong, detailed product / technology / industry knowledge. Knowledge of job associated software and applications 

Base Skills:

Network Infrastructure Experience 

Cisco certifications are required. Examples: CCIE, CCNP 

Cisco Nexus 9K, ACI, 7K, 5K, 2K, 1K 

Experience with Converged Network Fabrics / Converged Infrastructure Systems 

IP Routing Protocols 

Layer 2 protocols and technologies 

Cisco Core Datacenter Technologies 

ACI 

Network Management 

MPLS, DMVPN, Multicast 

Firewalls, VPN, IPSec / L2TP etc 

Network Security

Other Skills:

VMware / VMware NSX 

Palo Alto

Arista

Fortinet

Automation skillset

F5 / NetScaler 

Amazon AWS, Azure, Cloud connectivity and network fundamentals 

Education & Experience:

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or equivalent 

Pre Sales and Data Center experience is required 

Professional communication, presentation, analytical, and problem-solving skills. 

Experience working as a technical lead in a pre-sale’s sales campaign 

Ability to work under critical conditions and influence others to achieve results 

Strong interpersonal skills with excellent presentation skills 

Must be independent, self-motivated, a self-starter and possess a good working attitude 

Able to work well within a team and partner environment 

Customer focused and results driven