Senior Solutions Engineer

Position: SENIOR SOLUTIONS ENGINEER
Location

North or South Carolina (Hybrid)

Reports to

Director, Engineering

About Katalyst

Katalyst helps clients move further, faster, and more securely by delivering a seamless experience and a holistic approach to technology. We simplify complex challenges and provide market-leading services that drive measurable results. As we continues to grow, we are seeking a skilled Senior Presales Engineer to join our team and help us continue delivering exceptional client outcomes.

Role Description

This is a full-time, hybrid role combining onsite and remote work. The Senior Presales Engineer serves as the technical leader within the presales organization, partnering with sales teams to architect and propose complex IT solutions across networking, security, and hybrid cloud technologies. This senior role requires deep technical expertise across multiple technology domains and the ability to lead solution design, build accurate Bills of Materials (BoMs), scope professional services engagements, and define managed services offerings.

The Senior Presales Engineer acts as a trusted technical advisor to both customers and internal teams, ensuring proposed solutions align with customer business objectives while maintaining profitability and technical feasibility.

This role requires a consultative approach, strong leadership capabilities, and the ability to influence both technical and business stakeholders. The Senior Presales Engineer must balance technical excellence with commercial awareness, ensuring solutions are both innovative and practical.

Key Responsibilities:

Solution Design & Architecture

* Lead the design of complex, multi-vendor IT solutions spanning network infrastructure, security, collaboration, and hybrid cloud technologies

* Conduct comprehensive technical discovery sessions to understand customer business requirements, existing infrastructure, and future technology roadmap

* Develop detailed solution architectures that address customer requirements while optimizing for performance, security, scalability, and cost

* Perform technical assessments and audits of customer IT environments to identify gaps, risks, and opportunities

* Create high-level and low-level design documentation, network diagrams, and technical proposals using industry-standard tools

Presales Delivery

* Build accurate and detailed Bills of Materials (BoMs) for hardware, software, licensing, and support/maintenance

* Scope professional services engagements including project planning, resource allocation, timelines, and deliverables

* Define managed services offerings with detailed service descriptions, SLAs, pricing models, and operational requirements

* Develop technical proposals, Statements of Work (SOWs), and response documents for RFPs/RFIs

* Lead technical presentations, demonstrations, and proof-of-concept (POC) activities with customer stakeholders

Customer Engagement

* Serve as the primary technical point of contact during the presales cycle, building strong relationships with customer technical decision-makers

* Facilitate technical discussions with C-level executives, IT directors, network architects, and security teams

* Conduct whiteboard sessions to collaboratively design solutions and address technical objections

* Secure technical buy-in and commitment from all necessary stakeholders to achieve technical close on opportunities

Collaboration & Teamwork

* Collaborate closely with account managers, sales executives, and business development teams to drive opportunity progression

* Coordinate with engineering and project management teams to ensure seamless handoff and alignment between presales and delivery

* Partner with vendor representatives from Cisco, Fortinet, Microsoft, and other technology partners to leverage their expertise and resources

* Participate in solution review meetings to ensure technical accuracy and commercial viability of proposals

Leadership & Mentorship

* Provide technical mentorship and guidance to junior presales engineers and account managers

* Lead knowledge-sharing sessions to elevate the technical capabilities of the sales and presales organization

* Develop and maintain presales best practices, templates, and documentation

* Contribute to the continuous improvement of presales processes and methodologies

Business Development

* Identify and pursue expansion opportunities within existing customer accounts

* Contribute to achieving assigned revenue targets and quotas for the presales team

* Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitive landscape to position solutions effectively

* Participate in industry events, vendor partner programs, and professional development activities

Required Technical Skills & Experience

Network Infrastructure

* Enterprise LAN/WAN design and implementation (campus, branch, data center networking)

* SD-WAN architecture and deployment (Cisco, Fortinet, Palo Alto)

* Core and access switching, advanced routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP)

* Wireless infrastructure design including site…