Partner Systems Engineer

Job description

Meet the Team We are seeking an energetic and self-driven Partner Systems Engineer to join our Germany-based team. In this role, you will act as a trusted technical advisor, driving Cisco preference through proactive enablement, solution design, and relationship management. As a technical field sales professional, you will partner closely with Partner Account Executives (PAEs) to drive partner-led bookings, pipeline acceleration, and competitive wins in the field.

By combining hands-on technical expertise with consultative enablement, you will help scale Cisco’s market reach, position our portfolio competitively, and accelerate partner practice development. Your Impact As an independent Partner Solutions Engineer, you will own technical relationships with key partner contacts, practice leads, and solution architects. You will translate partner business requirements into compelling multi-architecture solutions across the Cisco portfolio, fostering technical self-sufficiency and driving partner-led revenue growth.

Key Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Design: Translate partner and customer business requirements into robust technical solutions, leveraging the breadth of Cisco’s portfolio (with a focus on Secure Networking, Collaboration, and AI-ready infrastructure).

Partner Enablement & Practice Development

Contribute to the technical track of the Partner Account Plan. Equip partner technical teams with the skills, blueprints, and battle cards needed to independently qualify, design, and close opportunities.

Joint Solution Co-Creation

Collaborate with partners to integrate Cisco technologies with partner services and intellectual property (IP), creating differentiated, high-value offerings.

Demonstrations & Solution Validation

Guide partners through solution validation, leveraging Cisco dCloud, interactive labs, and proof-of-concept (POC) environments to showcase technical superiority.

Cross-Architecture Expansion

Proactively identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities within the partner’s pipeline and installed base to drive quarterly technology adoption.

Competitive Defense & Positioning

Equip partners with competitive insights and differentiation strategies to successfully defend and win Cisco proposals in competitive bids.

One Cisco Collaboration

Partner closely with Cisco Portfolio SEs and Account Teams to present a unified "One Cisco" technical front, while gathering partner field insights to share with internal stakeholders.

Event & Community Leadership

Represent Cisco at regional partner webinars, technical workshops, hackathons, and community forums across Germany.

Minimum Qualifications

4–6+ years of technical pre-sales, systems engineering, or technical consulting experience in the networking/IT industry. Demonstrable expertise in core networking domains (Routing, Switching, Wireless) and fundamentals of Security (Firewalls, Zero Trust/ISE) or Data Center / Cloud infrastructure. Proven experience engaging with channel partners, systems integrators, or enterprise technical teams and decision-makers. Strong presentation and communication skills with the ability to deliver engaging technical workshops and solution demos.

Self-driven mindset with a structured approach to building relationships, formulating account plans, and executing independently within the German market. Ability and willingness to travel (up to 40–50%) to support partner engagements, workshops, and regional activities across Germany. Fluent/Native language skills in German and English (written and verbal).

Preferred Qualifications

Relevant industry certifications (e.g., Cisco CCNP/CCNA, AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Expert, or equivalent). Practical knowledge of Cisco’s Secure Networking portfolio (Catalyst, Meraki, Hybrid Mesh Firewalls, Secure Routers) or Workplace Experience / Collaboration solutions. Understanding of modern IT trends, such as AI infrastructure networking requirements, observability, or API-driven automation.

Experience utilizing Cisco dCloud or building lab proof-of-concept environments for partner/customer demonstrations. Familiarity with the German partner ecosystem and 1-Tier / 2-Tier distribution models. 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.