Solutions Architect – Cisco & AI Infrastructure (Presales)

About the Role

This role is focused on scaling presales execution and driving delivery excellence for Cisco-aligned services. You will work closely with US-based enterprise customers, Cisco sellers, and partners, owning solution architecture, POCs/POVs, and presales delivery oversight. This is a hands-on architecture role, ideal for professionals coming from Cisco partners, system integrators, MSPs, or enterprise IT services environments, with strong depth in data center and AI infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

Presales & Solution Architecture

• Lead presales solution architecture for Cisco-aligned services and offerings
• Partner closely with Cisco sales teams, partners, and enterprise customers
• Own end-to-end solution design, including requirement gathering, architecture definition, and technical validation
• Develop high-level and low-level designs aligned to customer business and technical needs

Technology Focus Areas

• Design and architect solutions across the following domains:

Cisco Data Center Technologies (Required)

• Cisco UCS, Nexus switching, ACI, VXLAN
• AI and high-performance data center topologies (Converged-rail, Rail-optimized, Dragonfly, etc.)
• Virtualized and hybrid data center environments

AI Infrastructure (Required)

• Cisco + NVIDIA-based AI infrastructure
• Secure AI Factory concepts
• GPU-based compute and high-performance networking for AI workloads

Hybrid Cloud & Infrastructure (Nice to Have)

• On-premises and public cloud integration (AWS, Azure, GCP – basic to intermediate level)
• Kubernetes setup and configuration

POCs, POVs & Commercial Support

• Lead and support Proof of Concepts (POCs) and Proof of Value (POVs) for enterprise customers
• Assist with effort estimation, BOM creation, pricing inputs, and SOW preparation
• Provide technical inputs for proposals, RFP responses, and customer presentations

Delivery & Practice Contribution

• Partner with delivery engineers to ensure smooth handover and high-quality execution
• Spend approximately 25% of time contributing to practice build activities, including:
• Solution SKUs and reference architectures
• Playbooks, best practices, and technical documentation
• Inputs to pricing models and standardized offerings

Basic Qualifications

• 8–14 years of experience in Solution Architecture, Presales, or Technical Consulting
• Strong hands-on experience with Cisco Data Center technologies
• Experience supporting US enterprise customers or global clients
• Background with Cisco partners, system integrators, MSPs, or IT services organizations is highly preferred

Technical Skills

• Strong understanding of:

  • Cisco UCS, Nexus, ACI, VXLAN, EVPN, BGP, OSPF

  • Data center networking and compute architectures

  • AI infrastructure fundamentals

  • Hybrid cloud integration models

• Exposure to Cisco + NVIDIA AI infrastructure, GPU workloads, and AI clusters is a strong plus
• Solid understanding of enterprise security concepts
• Ability to translate business requirements into scalable, production-ready architectures

Soft Skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Comfortable presenting solutions to customers and senior stakeholders
• Strong problem-solving, collaboration, and ownership mindset
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision

Preferred Qualifications

• Cisco CCIE – Preferred
• Cisco CCNP – Mandatory or strongly preferred
• NVIDIA, Cloud (AWS/Azure), or Security certifications – Nice to have

Salary Range

$180,000 - $200,000 + Benefits 

This is a full-time opportunity with Gruve, offering flexibility to work from either the Dallas office or the Redwood City office.

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