Position Description: Customer Proof of Concepts Engineer

Organization Overview

Global Demonstration Engineering leads the industry in delivering innovative, demonstration-centric experiences of Cisco solutions to customers. We provide a comprehensive, integrated sales-enablement portfolio that helps sales teams and partners showcase how Cisco products enhance productivity, expand sales opportunities, and shorten sales cycles. Our Cisco dCloud platform offers scripted, repeatable demos and fully customizable labs with complete administrative access, accessible on any network, device, and location. The dCloud platform not only improves user experiences but also drives business growth.

Position Summary

The Proof-of-Concept (POC) Specialist is a Systems Engineer (SE) responsible for the end-to-end development, planning, design, delivery, and coordination of Customer Proof of Concept Labs, primarily focused on Enterprise Networking and Nexus (NX) technologies, but may include other Cisco technologies. This role involves close collaboration with Business Units (BUs), Content Developers, Partners (internal and third-party), and account teams throughout the POC lifecycle—from introduction through build, testing, and final customer delivery. The specialist will gather customer requirements, define testing criteria, and ensure POC objectives are met.

Key Responsibilities

Project Management (10%)

• Identify, prioritize, and organize all project-related tasks.
• Strategize and communicate project goals and objectives across organizational levels.
• Ensure effective status reporting from all third-party developers involved in assigned projects.

Engineering (50%)

• Design, develop, document, and deliver diverse POC content, mainly for Enterprise Networks and NX.
• Collaborate with Account Teams, Technical Marketing Engineers (TMEs), Content Developers, Partners, and customers to extract requirements.
• Create design and test plans aligned with POC objectives.
• Lead the POC engineering efforts from introduction through build, test, and delivery phases.
• Work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary engineering team.

Platform Design (20%)

• Document and plan all projects thoroughly before the build phase.
• Utilize standard design tools and templates such as Visio, PowerPoint, and MS Project.
• Present and justify designs to peer review groups.

Support (10%)

• Serve as the first point of contact for all escalations related to POCs.
• Collaborate with account teams, partners, and customers to ensure successful POC delivery.
• Manage escalations by coordinating with responsible engineers to provide fixes, document solutions, update the Support Knowledge Base, and train Tier 1 and Tier 2 engineers.
• Work with project managers to ensure content and documentation updates are planned and executed.
• Liaise with operations teams to resolve issues during development and testing, provide technical support, and recommend design improvements.

Other Duties (5%)

• Act as a liaison with third-party developers and independently develop content as needed.
   

Candidate Requirements

• CCNP/CCIE certification or equivalent experience.
• Strong background in Routing, Switching, and Security protocols, including OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, MPLS, DMVPN, IPSec, NAT, Trustsec, LISP, VXLAN, EVPN, and 802.1x.
• Experience with Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN, including controller deployment (on-premise and cloud), template and policy management, and Cloud On-Ramp for Multi-Cloud.
• Expertise in Cisco Software Defined Access (SDA), including Cisco Catalyst Center (DNA Center) deployment and management, network device provisioning, SWIM, templates, Plug-and-Play, and SD-Access Fabric.
• Cloud networking experience with AWS, Azure, GCP, and Microsoft Office365.
• Familiarity with virtual infrastructures such as VMware vCenter and virtual machines.
• Experience with test tools like Spirent, Cyberflood, Avalanche, Ixia, Keysight, and WAN emulation.
• Knowledge of Cisco security products is a plus, including SSE, Meraki, Secure Access, Secure Cloud Control, NGFW, ISE, Stealthwatch, ThousandEyes, Umbrella, Threat Defense, Defense Orchestrator, Cyber Vision, and Office 365.
• Proven project delivery, project management, and time management skills.
   

Additional Desired Skills

• Basic programming and scripting skills in Go, Python, Ruby, PowerShell, XML, SQL, etc.
• Basic web development and scripting knowledge.
   

Qualifications and Competencies

• Strong self-management and time management skills with the ability to organize competing priorities across global time zones.
• Sense of urgency and adaptability to shifting team demands and critical time-to-market business needs.
• Flexibility to handle a wide range of tasks and rapidly switch between projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Analytical skills to use source materials effectively, think critically, identify risks, and recommend actions.
• Attention to detail with a focus on accuracy and adherence to standards.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with an emphasis on building relationships and promoting collaborative goals.
• Professionalism in managing people, problems, stress, and persistence to complete tasks.
• Dependability and reliability in meeting commitments and producing high-quality work.
• Independent learning ability with creative problem-solving skills and a proactive approach to information gathering.
• Strong planning and organizational skills to anticipate problems, manage complexity, and meet deadlines.

Reporting Structure

• Reports to: SE Operations Manager
• Works Closely With: Content Development Team, Project Management Team, Practice Leads, Automation/UI Development Team, Technical Writing Team, dCloud Social Media Specialist, Platform Team, and NetOps Team
• Direct Reports: None

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.