Senior Systems Engineer (Presales) - Netops

Job Description

Solution Architect – Secure Networking – India

Location: Gurgaon / NCR

Department: SME Engineering – Secure Networking

About Fortinet

Fortinet has been founded on the principle of converging networking and security into a unified solution. Over the past 12 years, Fortinet has significantly expanded its Wired and Wireless networking portfolio through organic innovation and strategic acquisitions.

This growth has been recognized by Gartner®, which positioned Fortinet as a Leader in the 2024 and 2025 Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Wired and Wireless LAN Infrastructure.

If you have 12+ years of hands-on experience designing, implementing, and troubleshooting enterprise Wired and Wireless networking solutions, this is an opportunity to join Fortinet's Subject Matter Expert (SME) team and take your networking expertise into the next level of Network Security.

Role Overview

As a Solution Architect – Secure Networking, you will be part of the SME Engineering team supporting the India & SAARC region.

You will work closely with Account Teams and Field Systems Engineers to position Fortinet's Secure Networking portfolio, including:

• Network Access Control (NAC)
• Wireless
• Enterprise Switching
• Identity & Access Management (AAA)
• Voice Solutions
• ZTNA
• SD-Branch
  
  

The role involves providing second-level pre-sales technical support, leading complex customer engagements, conducting POCs and demonstrations, and acting as a technical bridge between the field teams and Fortinet's Consulting Systems Engineering (CSE) organization.

Key Responsibilities

Pre-Sales & Technical Support

• Provide second-level pre-sales support to the Field SE organization.
• Support RFPs/RFIs with solution design, specifications, and product information.
• Support strategic and complex customer projects to ensure successful Fortinet engagements.
• Lead technical discussions and articulate technology capabilities and differentiated value.
• Deliver technical presentations, demonstrations, and Proofs of Concept (POCs).
• Provide hands-on technical assistance during customer engagements.
• Conduct external workshops and POCs for prospects and customers in collaboration with Account SEs.
• Perform hands-on testing to validate network designs, POC environments, and network deployments.
  
  

Technical Content & Enablement

• Develop technical materials to support sales activities, including:
• Presentations / slideware
• Solution briefs
• White papers
• Success stories
• Technical notes
• Competitive comparisons
• Design and conduct internal technical workshops.
• Enable and disseminate product knowledge across Sales and Channel teams.
  

SME & Product Collaboration

• Act as a technical point of contact for the CSE team.
• Consolidate customer requirements and technical feedback across the India region.
• Validate business cases and create/escalate product feature requests.
• Report project activities and analyze project trends.
• Provide market and competitive insights.
• Participate in the development of commercial strategies.
• Collect competitive intelligence on networking and security solutions and share insights with Account and Channel teams.
  
  

Travel

• Ability to travel across India at short notice, as required.
• Expected to work from the office four days per week to facilitate collaboration with extended teams and build strong working relationships.
  
  

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in a Senior SE, Consulting SE, or senior technical role within Networking or IT Security.
• Experience working with both vendors and system integrators (SI).
• Strong hands-on expertise in enterprise networking and security.
• Bachelor's degree in:
• Computer Science
• Information Technology
• Electronics
• Computer Applications
• Or equivalent experience in networking/security.
  

Core Technical Expertise

Network Access Control (NAC)

• Strong experience designing, proposing, demonstrating, and conducting POCs for NAC solutions.
• NAC deployment and troubleshooting.
• 802.1X authentication and device onboarding.
• MAC Address Bypass (MAB).
• LAN micro-segmentation.
• BYOD and IoT onboarding.
  
  

Wireless

Deep understanding of enterprise Wireless technologies, including:

• IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be
• IEEE 802.11e/h/i/k/r/v
• CAPWAP
• Wireless Controller Architecture
• Campus and remote AP deployments
• Wireless design, site surveys, implementation, and troubleshooting
• WIPS
• Wireless spectrum analysis
• OFDMA
• Spatial Reuse
• UL/DL MU-MIMO
• BLE / Zigbee
• WPA / WPA2 / WPA3
  
  

Authentication & AAA

• RADIUS
• LDAP
• Certificate-based authentication
• Wired and Wireless authentication
• SAML
• Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Two-factor authentication
• EAP-TLS
• EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2
• PEAP
• EAP-SIM / EAP-AKA
• EAP-FAST
  
  

Enterprise Switching

Experience designing and proposing Data Center, Campus, and Branch switching solutions, including:

• VLAN / IEEE 802.1Q
• VXLAN
• MLAG / MCLAG
• Stacking
• STP
• ACLs
• QoS
• Port Security
• 802.1X
• PoE / PoE budget calculations
• LLDP / MED
• RADIUS CoA
• DHCP Snooping
• IGMP
• QinQ
• Private VLAN
• Storm Control
• LoopGuard
• PortFast
• Split Port
• Link Aggregation
  
  

Routing & Network Fundamentals

• Strong TCP/IP fundamentals
• IPv6
• Advanced OSPF and BGP
• Multicast
• NAT
• VRF
• IPSec
• SSL/TLS
• Packet capture and network analysis
• VoIP / QoS
• LTE / 5G
  
  

Secure Networking

• Hands-on experience with NGFW / UTM / Threat Prevention
• Knowledge and ability to pitch:
• ZTNA
• SD-Branch
• Network Security
• LAN Micro-segmentation
  

Additional Technical Skills

Knowledge in the following areas is advantageous:

Automation & Scripting

• Python
• Bash
• PowerShell
• Golang or equivalent
  
  

Operating Systems

• Linux administration
  
  

Cloud

Knowledge of public cloud technologies and concepts across:

• AWS
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
  
  

Private Cloud

Knowledge of:

• VMware
• KVM
  
  

Other Technologies

• MDM solutions
• IoT solutions
• SNMP
• MIB / OIDs
• Network monitoring and troubleshooting tools
  
  

What This Role Primarily Requires

Core must-have areas:

NAC + Wireless + Enterprise Switching + AAA/IAM + Routing (BGP/OSPF) + Hands-on Networking + Pre-Sales/POCs

The role is specifically focused on deep enterprise networking expertise combined with pre-sales consulting, rather than general cybersecurity, SD-WAN, or SASE experience alone.

Equal Opportunity

Fortinet is an equal opportunity employer.

We will only notify shortlisted candidates.

Fortinet will not entertain any unsolicited resumes.

Please refrain from sending unsolicited resumes to Fortinet employees or Fortinet email aliases.

If any agency submits resumes to Fortinet, such resumes,