The Role :
Splunk, a Cisco company, is seeking a dynamic and visionary leader for a pivotal role at a time when our technology is hyper-relevant in the age of AI. As the Director of Solutions Engineering for the Germany region, you are more than a "leader of leaders" - you are a strategic force who will shape the technical future for our customers.
This is a highly transformational role. We are looking for a leader with a growth mindset and a fresh perspective to elevate our organization from a traditional pre-sales motion to an innovative, proactive, and business-opportunity-focused mission. You will drive transformational change, champion a value-selling approach, and forge a mature, visionary partnership with the sales organization. By converting our approach from reactive to proactive, you will empower a world-class team to deliver exceptional business outcomes for Splunk’s customers.
As an active member of the Splunk Germany Leadership Team, you will be a technical visionary, a business driver, and an inspirational coach, building strong executive relationships to drive market success.
What You'll Do :
As an executive technical sales leader, you will orchestrate teams and cross-functional resources to deliver impactful results across three core pillars:
1. Drive Business Outcomes and Customer Success (Lead Business)
- Transform the Pre-Sales Motion: Drive the shift from a traditional, reactive technical support function to a proactive, value-selling organization focused on long-term business outcomes and strategic opportunities.
- Build a Visionary Sales Partnership: Forge a strong, mature, and innovative partnership with field sales leadership. Jointly develop strategic account plans and orchestrate resources to win in the market.
- Engage at the Executive Level: Act as a trusted advisor to our most strategic customers. Proactively engage at the VP/CxO level to understand their buying processes, business drivers, and market challenges - particularly within Public Sector, Financial Services, Insurance, Telecommunications, and Retail sectors.
- Position us to Win: Leverage deep market intelligence to strategically position Splunk + Cisco solutions, clearly articulating our trade-offs, advantages, and competitive edge.
2. Lead and Develop Elite Talent (Lead Others)
- Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Champion an inclusive, agile culture where team members are empowered to innovate and thrive amidst market shifts. Bring a fresh perspective that challenges the status quo.
- Develop "Leaders of Leaders": Coach, mentor, and develop a team of managers and engineers. Proactively identify talent, implement succession plans, and co-develop individual growth plans.
- Drive Operational Excellence: Manage performance closely using the skill/will methodology. Establish scalable frameworks for enablement, and organizational alignment to ensure your team can support complex, high-value tech solutions.
3. Embody Executive Leadership and Vision (Lead Yourself)
- Be a Thought Leader: Amplify Splunk's market presence by representing the company as a strategic expert in industry forums, customer advisory boards, and internal strategy councils.
- Master Cross-Functional Alignment: Work seamlessly with Sales, Partners org, Professional Services, Education, Product Management, and Engineering to ensure alignment between pre- and post-sales activities, scope new opportunities, and resolve critical customer situations.
- Demonstrate Executive Accountability: Navigate organizational challenges with resilience and adaptability, ensuring sustained strategic alignment and business excellence.
Who You Are:
You are a visionary pre-sales and solution architecture leader who thrives on defining strategies for innovative technology in a dynamic, AI-driven landscape. You seek out and solve complex, high-impact problems, leading by example and influencing from the front.
Your Qualifications:
- 15+ years of experience in technical selling and Solutions/Sales Engineering within enterprise software.
- 7+ years of leadership experience, with a proven track record of managing people managers (leader of leaders) in a complex work environment.
- Deep-dive experience and market knowledge within the Germany region.
- Proven experience working across multiple customer segments (Enterprise, Public Sector, Service Provider, Commercial).
- Strong domain expertise in enterprise software (e.g., Cybersecurity, Observability, Cloud & AI, IT Operations, Application Performance Management, or Big Data).
- Exceptional communication and articulation skills; ability to translate complex technical ideas into clear business value for executive audiences.
- Proven experience driving organizational transformation, specifically shifting a pre-sales team from a reactive technical function to a proactive, value-selling business driver.
- M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions) experience is desirable.
- BS/MS or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a related field.
- Ability to travel up to 25-40%.
- Fluent in German and English (both written & spoken).
- Successful candidate must be based in Germany.
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.
Skills Required
- 15+ years of experience in technical selling and Solutions Engineering or Sales Engineering within enterprise software
- 7+ years of leadership experience managing people managers in a complex work environment
- Deep market knowledge and experience in the Germany region
- Experience working across Enterprise, Public Sector, Service Provider, and Commercial customer segments
- Domain expertise in enterprise software, such as cybersecurity, observability, cloud and AI, IT operations, application performance management, or big data
- Exceptional communication skills and ability to translate technical concepts into business value for executive audiences
- Proven experience transforming a reactive pre-sales team into a proactive, value-selling business function
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree, or equivalent experience, in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a related field
- Ability to travel up to 25–40%
- Fluency in German and English, written and spoken
- Successful candidate must be based in Germany
- Mergers and acquisitions experience
Cisco Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cisco and has not been reviewed or approved by Cisco.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as broad, with medical options including PPOs, high-deductible plans, and regional HMOs. Feedback suggests robust wellness and mental-health resources, with some locations offering on-site support and second medical opinions.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is highlighted through paid holidays, paid time off, and additional recharge days such as “Days for Me,” with generous volunteer time also mentioned. Feedback suggests these programs help support rest, volunteering, and critical life events.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental and family support appears extensive, including paid child-bonding leave, family medical leave, and caregiving resources. Observations also point to family-planning assistance and adoption or surrogacy support in some regions.
Cisco Insights
What We Do
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) enables people to make powerful connections--whether in business, education, philanthropy, or creativity. Cisco hardware, software, and service offerings are used to create the Internet solutions that make networks possible--providing easy access to information anywhere, at any time. Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company's inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies. Today, with more than 71,000 employees worldwide, this tradition of innovation continues with industry-leading products and solutions in the company's core development areas of routing and switching, as well as in advanced technologies such as home networking, IP telephony, optical networking, security, storage area networking, and wireless technology. In addition to its products, Cisco provides a broad range of service offerings, including technical support and advanced services. Cisco sells its products and services, both directly through its own sales force as well as through its channel partners, to large enterprises, commercial businesses, service providers, and consumers.
