Systems Engineer – GSI
Location: Frankfurt
A digital world you can always trust - is essential to achieving just and sustainable societies. We believe it is our responsibility to deliver on that vision by innovating sustainable security technologies, diversifying cybersecurity talent, and promoting responsible business across our value chain.
Fortinet Germany is outperforming the Security Market since several years, contributing consistent and high profitable revenue streams to Fortinet’s global success. One of the key differentiators in the market is the PreSales organization. The coverage and security technology competence level are outstanding and clearly above average vendor presence with the security industry.
Objective:
In this key role a Systems Engineer will work closely with sales representatives in our GSI vertical. The Systems Engineer's main mission will be to support the sales organization in all technical matters regarding pre-sales, sales activities, and selected post-sales activities.
Responsibilities:
- Understanding of the Fortinet portfolio with the ability to demonstrate and articulate technical and business value.
- Strong foundational knowledge in security and networking technology and specifically in our “core technology”, FortiOS-based products.
- Subject Matter Expert and first contact in an assigned technical domain within or across assigned pre-sales district for GSIs. Manage domain use cases, competitive intelligence, and differentiation. Excellent product integration & customization skills including relevant 3rd party integrations.
- Create sales opportunities by identifying solutions to customer problems and assist in qualifying sales leads from a technical perspective. Discover opportunities to upsell and cross-sell Fortinet solutions. Initiate and influence project decisions.
- Manage and lead all aspects of the technical sales engagement from general queries to demos, responses to RfX, driving PoC’s and enablement around features, specifications, and functionality to integration. Provide high-level architecture and implementation design consultation and best practice guidance for strategic opportunities.
- Act as trusted advisor for assigned GSI accounts and maintain the technical relationship with the customer. Discover opportunities to upsell and cross-sell Fortinet solutions. Work closely with the regional escalation manager, technical support team and engineering to ensure customer's technical issues are answered and resolved.
- Collaborate with peers, Consulting System Engineers (CSE’s), Solution Architects, Business Consultants, Professional Services and/or Partners on complex opportunities. Capture and manage customer requirements through the Consulting System Engineering Team to Product Management.
- Support PreSales, Sales & Channel enablement activities and events.
Required Skills:
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience in pre-sales support for GSIs with proven success.
- Deep level knowledge in the design and delivery of GSI related service and solution offerings.
- Expert level knowledge in networking (LAN, WIFI, WAN, SDN, routing, switching, Internet services administration), and network security (Next-Gen Firewalls, Intrusion Detection, encryption protocols).
- Strong customer focus to address complex technical and business requirements with a self-motivated, positive attitude. Goal-driven, adapting to shifting priorities, demands and timelines.
- Knowledge of the following domains is a plus:
- Datacenter architectures (e.g. ACI, NSX-T)
- Security Architectures (e.g. Zero Trust, SASE, SD-WAN)
- Modern Software Architectures (e.g. DevOps, IaC)
- Cloud Architectures with at least one public cloud specialization
- Security Operations (e.g. Orchestration, Automation, SIEM Tools)
- IT Security standards (e.g. BSI 200-x, ISO2700x, COBIT, NIST) and/or relevant regulations (EU-DSGVO, BDSG, NIS-2/KRITIS).
- Scripting (ideally Ansible, Terraform, Python with good knowledge of APIs)
- Excellent German and English language skills.
- Ability to interface with senior levels of internal / external organizations is required.
- Expert level verbal & written communication, presentation, prioritization, and interpersonal skills.
- Deep level experience in installation and configuration of network devices, systems (UNIX/Linux, Windows-based, virtualized and containers), public-clouds
- Willingness to travel 20-50% of time.
Education:
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. Graduate degree preferred
Fortinet is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity in our company, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.
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About UsFortinet makes possible a digital world that we can always trust through its mission to protect people, devices, and data everywhere. This is why the world’s largest enterprises, service providers, and government organizations choose Fortinet to securely accelerate their digital journey. The Fortinet Security Fabric platform delivers broad, integrated, and automated protections across the entire digital attack surface, securing critical devices, data, applications, and connections from the data center to the cloud to the home office. Ranking #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide, more than 615,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. And the Fortinet NSE Training Institute, an initiative of Fortinet’s Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), provides one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry to make cyber training and new career opportunities available to everyone.Skills Required
- Minimum of 3 years' experience in pre-sales support for GSIs
- Deep knowledge in design and delivery of GSI service and solution offerings
- Expert-level knowledge in networking and network security (LAN, WiFi, WAN, SDN, routing, switching, NGFW, IDS/IPS, encryption)
- Experience with FortiOS-based products and Fortinet portfolio
- Deep experience installing and configuring network devices and systems (UNIX/Linux, Windows, virtualized, containers) and public cloud environments
- Excellent German and English language skills
- Ability to interface with senior internal/external stakeholders; strong communication and presentation skills
- Willingness to travel 20-50% of time
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
- Knowledge of datacenter architectures (e.g., ACI, NSX-T)
- Knowledge of security architectures (Zero Trust, SASE, SD-WAN)
- Familiarity with modern software architectures (DevOps, IaC)
- Public cloud specialization (at least one provider)
- Security operations tooling (orchestration, automation, SIEM)
- Familiarity with IT security standards and regulations (BSI, ISO2700x, COBIT, NIST, GDPR, BDSG, NIS-2)
- Scripting and automation skills (ideally Ansible, Terraform, Python) and API knowledge
Fortinet Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Fortinet and has not been reviewed or approved by Fortinet.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare offerings appear comprehensive, including medical, dental, vision, counseling, wellness programs, and HSA/FSA options. Some materials also highlight affordability and multiple plan choices.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is described as strong, with PTO and reports of flexible or even unlimited PTO depending on team or manager. These options contribute to a perception of good flexibility.
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Parental & Family Support — Support includes maternity and paternity leave alongside childcare/parenting resources and adoption/surrogacy assistance. This indicates robust family-oriented benefits.
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