Role Description
We are looking for a Cybersecurity Pre-Sales Engineer to help state and local government agencies, school districts, and higher education institutions modernize their network security posture through secure SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and cloud-delivered security architectures.
In this customer-facing technical role, you will work closely with account managers, channel partners, and SLED customers to design, position, and demonstrate secure networking solutions spanning secure SD-WAN, Security Service Edge (SSE), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and hybrid firewall architectures. You will help SLED organizations understand how integrated network and security platforms protect students, citizens, employees, applications, and data across distributed and hybrid environments.
This role is fully remote and can be done anywhere across the US.
What You'll Do
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Lead technical discovery sessions to understand agency missions, district IT environments, compliance mandates, and security requirements unique to SLED organizations.
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Design scalable, vendor-agnostic secure networking architectures incorporating SD-WAN, SSE, identity-based access, and next-generation firewall technologies.
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Deliver high-impact demonstrations, workshops, and proof-of-concepts covering SD-WAN, ZTNA, SWG, CASB, and Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) use cases relevant to government and education environments.
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Position integrated security and networking solutions that address SLED-specific challenges including multi-site connectivity (campuses, courthouses, branch offices), remote user access, and cloud application adoption.
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Support sales pursuits by responding to RFPs, RFIs, and security questionnaires — including those structured around SLED procurement vehicles and compliance frameworks — with clear, technically accurate documentation and architecture diagrams.
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Collaborate with account managers, channel partners, state and local resellers, and professional services teams to drive successful deal outcomes.
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Present confidently to technical audiences and executive stakeholders including CIOs, CISOs, IT directors, and elected officials overseeing technology decisions.
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Provide field feedback to product and engineering teams based on SLED customer requirements and pain points.
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Travel within the territory to support customer meetings, partner engagements, workshops, and public sector industry events such as NASCIO, GovTech, or regional education technology conferences.
Qualifications
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5+ years of experience in technical presales, sales engineering, or solution architecture within networking, security, or cloud domains — ideally with SLED or public sector exposure.
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Hands-on experience with SASE, Zero Trust, SD-WAN, and cloud-delivered security architectures.
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Strong understanding of security technologies including firewalls, IPsec, SSL-VPN, IDS/IPS, and traffic inspection.
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Solid networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, TLS, HTTP/S, BGP, and OSPF.
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Familiarity with identity and access management concepts including SSO, SAML, OAuth, OIDC, and role-based access control.
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Working knowledge of public cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud).
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Comfortable delivering live demos, whiteboarding architectures, and running customer POCs in resource-constrained SLED environments.
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Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear mission and business value for non-technical government and education stakeholders.
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Self-motivated, collaborative, and comfortable navigating the longer sales cycles and procurement processes common in public sector.
Preferred Qualifications
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Experience selling into or supporting SLED accounts, including familiarity with cooperative purchasing contracts (NASPO, OMNIA Partners, E-Rate, etc.).
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Understanding of SLED-specific compliance and regulatory requirements such as CJIS, FERPA, HIPAA (for public health entities), NIST 800-53, or StateRAMP/FedRAMP.
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Certifications such as CISSP, Security+, and/or relevant cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP).
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Familiarity with Zero Trust maturity models and how they map to public sector security mandates (e.g., CISA Zero Trust Strategy, EO 14028).
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Experience with E-Rate program requirements for K-12 networking and security solutions.
Benefits
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The opportunity to directly impact how government agencies and educational institutions protect their networks, students, and citizens.
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Work at the intersection of one of the fastest-growing areas in networking — SASE and Zero Trust — applied to a mission-driven customer segment.
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Competitive compensation, benefits, and flexible work arrangements.
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Ongoing technical enablement, training, and career development opportunities.
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A collaborative, inclusive culture that values innovation and continuous learning.
