Position Overview
Must Be in Greater Austin, TX Area
The HPE Networking Principal Sales Engineer is a principal-level technical sales leader and trusted advisor for State, Local Government, and Education (SLED) customers. This role helps customers modernize and transform their IT infrastructure through expertise in enterprise networking, wireless, security, cloud-managed networking, automation, and AI-enabled network operations.
As a senior technical leader within the sales organization, the Principal Sales Engineer partners with account teams, business leaders, channel partners, systems integrators, and customer executives to develop technology strategies, architect complex solutions, and drive successful business outcomes. The role leads strategic and complex opportunities, influences customer technology direction, provides regional technical leadership, and mentors fellow sales engineers while contributing to revenue growth, customer success, and overall business objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as a trusted technical advisor for a portfolio of SLED accounts, including state agencies, local government organizations, colleges, and universities.
- Lead discovery sessions, executive briefings, workshops, technical strategy discussions, and solution planning engagements with customer stakeholders.
- Design, architect, and position HPE Networking solutions across wired and wireless networking, network security, network management, data center networking, cloud-managed networking, and cloud-native platforms.
- Develop and present solution architectures, proof-of-concepts, demonstrations, technical proposals, and business value presentations aligned with customer requirements.
- Support account managers throughout the sales cycle, from opportunity qualification and technical discovery through solution development, executive presentations, and implementation planning.
- Build and maintain trusted relationships with CIOs, CTOs, chief information security officers, network architects, security leaders, and IT operations teams.
- Translate customer business and technology challenges into practical solutions that deliver measurable outcomes, operational improvements, and return on investment.
- Lead technical strategy for complex, multi-stakeholder opportunities involving multiple solution domains and business units.
- Collaborate with channel partners, systems integrators, professional services organizations, and internal teams to develop and deliver comprehensive customer solutions.
- Lead competitive positioning efforts and clearly articulate the value of HPE Networking solutions compared with alternative market offerings.
- Provide mentorship, coaching, and technical leadership to sales engineering peers.
- Develop and share reusable architectures, demonstrations, technical content, and best practices across the organization.
- Maintain current knowledge of enterprise networking trends, emerging technologies, public-sector procurement processes, funding cycles, contract vehicles, and compliance considerations relevant to SLED customers.
- Participate in customer events, conferences, advisory boards, industry associations, and other activities that strengthen HPE9s presence in the SLED market.
- Contribute to revenue growth, pipeline development, customer adoption, and customer satisfaction objectives.
Required Qualifications
Must Be in Greater Austin, TX Area
- Bachelor9s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Significant experience in enterprise networking, solution architecture, and technical presales.
- Strong expertise in LAN, WLAN, routing, switching, network security, and network management technologies.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical sales opportunities involving multiple stakeholders, technologies, and solution domains.
- Experience engaging customer executives and presenting technical strategies, architectures, and business value to both technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Strong presentation, communication, facilitation, relationship-building, and consultative selling skills.
- Ability to work independently while managing multiple strategic opportunities and leading technical account strategy.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with account teams, partners, delivery organizations, and cross-functional stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to connect technology solutions to customer business outcomes and organizational priorities.
Preferred Qualifications
Must Be in Greater Austin, TX Area
- Experience supporting State, Local Government, and Education (SLED) customers.
- Expert-level knowledge of HPE Aruba Networking, Juniper Networks, or comparable enterprise networking solutions.
- Experience with SD-WAN, cloud networking, network automation, data center networking, AI-enabled network operations, Zero Trust security, or cloud-managed networking.
- Relevant advanced certifications, such as CCIE, JNCIE, CWNE, CISSP, or comparable credentials.
- Familiarity with public-sector procurement processes, funding models, contract vehicles, and regulatory or compliance considerations.
- Demonstrated leadership through mentoring, cross-functional initiatives, customer thought leadership, or development of technical best practices.
- Experience leading customer workshops, technical communities, advisory boards, or industry engagements.
Success Profile 6 Principal Expectations
Success in this role is demonstrated by the ability to:
- Serve as a recognized senior technical leader for HPE Networking within the SLED market and assigned region.
- Establish trusted relationships with customer executives, technical decision-makers, account teams, and strategic partners.
- Lead technical strategy for the organization9s most strategic and complex opportunities.
- Influence customer technology direction, architecture decisions, and business outcomes.
- Demonstrate broad technical expertise and deep knowledge of enterprise networking and related technologies.
- Advance qualified pipeline and contribute meaningfully to revenue and growth objectives.
- Support successful customer adoption, business value realization, and long-term customer satisfaction.
- Mentor fellow sales engineers and elevate the technical capabilities of the broader organization.
- Create and promote reusable technical approaches, architectures, demonstrations, and best practices.
