Sr. Solutions Engineer, Pre-Sales (Mid West)

Senior Solutions Engineer, Pre-Sales (Mid West)
Sales Engineering | United States (Remote) — Chicago, IL

You'll be the technical lead in Alkira's largest enterprise deals — in the room with network architects and infrastructure directors, owning the technical side of the deal from first conversation through POC to close.

This is a pre-sales engineering role. You'll partner directly with an Account Manager on strategy and carry real influence over what we build next — our Product team treats SE field feedback as a primary input to the roadmap.

Location: Remote, US. Candidates should reside in the Chicago, IL region

Travel: approximately 25%, including regional air travel as needed. Please discuss the specifics for this position with the recruiter.

What you'll do

• Present and demo the Alkira platform to technical decision makers, from engineer to CIO
• Clearly articulate the Alkira value proposition and have a sound understanding of market, industry and competitive landscape
• Partner with Alkira Account Managers to understand customer requirements and pain points. Assist with any technical asks from customers and help respond to RFP/RFIs
• Scope, run and win Proof of Concepts end to end
• Assist customers with design and deployment based on best practices
• Work with Alkira Product Management team to provide feedback on upcoming features from the customer's lens
• Track and drive key customer features/asks with Alkira Product Management to implementation

What you need

• 8+ years in a customer-facing pre-sales engineering role — Sales Engineer, Systems Engineer, Solutions Consultant or Solutions Architect — ideally at a networking or security vendor, cloud provider, channel partner, or consultancy
• Strong networking fundamentals – Everything below builds on this, and it is not negotiable
• Deep expertise in routing protocols and technologies, including BGP, OSPF, and static routing, with hands-on experience in route policy design, route redistribution, filtering, and traffic engineering
• Understanding of network virtualization and software-defined networking, including VRFs, multi-tenant network architectures, SD-WAN, and the encapsulation protocols used to build overlays at scale (GRE, VXLAN, GENEVE and similar)
• Hands-on experience with IPsec VPNs, encryption standards, NAT, and secure connectivity architectures
• Good understanding of how enterprises extend cloud connectivity using a variety of Networking Technologies (i.e. Cloud On-Ramps, SD-WAN and IPsec)
• Experience in large-scale enterprise network design and deployment experience across data center, WAN and hybrid/multi-cloud
• A deep understanding of network services — DNS, DHCP, load balancing, traffic inspection and similar
• The ability to troubleshoot live, in front of a customer, across routing, security and cloud domains
• Excellent written and verbal communication, and comfort presenting and demoing to customers in person – In this role you are the technical credibility of the company

Strongly preferred

• Understanding of cloud networking constructs across AWS, Azure, and GCP (e.g., VPCs/VNets, Transit Gateway, Virtual WAN, Cloud Router, peering, and hybrid connectivity such as Direct Connect and ExpressRoute)
• Network security expertise, including firewalls (e.g., Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, Check Point), firewall policy design, service insertion/chaining, and Zero Trust principles
• Relevant technical certifications (e.g., CCNP/CCIE, AWS Advanced Networking, Azure Network Engineer, PCNSE)
• Familiarity with Terraform or infrastructure-as-code for network automation
• BA/BS/MS in a technical field
• Strong passion for sales and creating long-lasting professional relationships

About Alkira

Alkira, a Lumen Connect® solution, is building the future of enterprise networking: one programmable platform to connect, secure, and operate every cloud, site, partner, data center, and AI workload.

Founded by Amir and Atif Khan, the creators of Viptela and pioneers of the SD-WAN market, Alkira was built to radically simplify how enterprises deploy and manage network infrastructure. Today, as part of Lumen, we are bringing that cloud-native operating model to a global network foundation trusted by the world's largest enterprises.

Our platform helps customers move faster without managing hardware, stitching together providers, or operating fragmented cloud networks. Teams can build and scale connectivity on demand, apply consistent security and segmentation, and gain visibility across distributed environments from one place.

At Alkira, you'll help shape the next chapter of networking: cloud-like consumption, private-network performance, and total control across the enterprise. We move fast, solve hard problems, and build technology that changes how global businesses connect.

Join us and help build the future of networking.

Compensation Disclosure

The compensation offered for this position will depend on qualifications, experience and work location. This is a commissioned sales role; for candidates who receive an offer at the posted level, the expected base salary plus commission target is the annual range listed below.

$200,000.00 - $300,000.00/yr

The range reflects the cost of labor across multiple U.S. geographic markets, and a candidate hired outside the primary market for this role may be compensated at a different rate. The role is eligible for our full benefits package.

Life at Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution

Life at Alkira is human and connected, even in a fast moving, AI‑focused organization. We set clear expectations and trust people to meet them. With real support and shared accountability, teams collaborate better, move faster, and deliver meaningful outcomes. 

Our Lumen 8 behaviors guide how we interact, make decisions, and work together, shaping a culture built to perform and win.  To learn more about Life at Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution
and how we live into the Lumen 8, please visit:  
https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/life-at-lumen

Background Screening

If you are selected for a position, there will be a background screen, which may include checks for criminal records and/or motor vehicle reports and/or drug screening, depending on the position requirements. For more information on these checks, please refer to the Post Offer section of our FAQ page. Job-related concerns identified during the background screening may disqualify you from the new position or your current role. Background results will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Equal Employment Opportunities

We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, “protected statuses”). We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training.

Privacy Notice

Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution is committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal information collected during the recruitment and hiring process. Our Applicant Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect applicant information, as well as how individuals may request access to or deletion of their personal data.

To review Alkira's Global Employment Applicant and Talent Community Privacy Notice, please visit:
https://jobs.lumen.com/global/en/privacy-notice

Disclaimer

The job responsibilities described above indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not intended to include a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities for this job. Job duties and responsibilities are subject to change based on evolving business needs and conditions.

In any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Please be advised that Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution does not require any form of payment from job applicants during the recruitment process. All legitimate job openings will be posted on our official website or communicated through official company email addresses. If you encounter any job offers that request payment in exchange for employment at Alkira, a Lumen Connect Solution, they are not for employment with us but may relate to another company with a similar name.