Forward Deployed Engineer

[Alkira](https://www.alkira.com/)is growing our Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) team (formerly Solutions Architect) and looking for high-energy, dedicated professionals who can help new and existing clients succeed on our Network-Infrastructure-as-a-Service platform. FDEs are hands-on technologists who embed directly with our largest strategic Enterprise accounts — from pre-sales technical validation through production deployment, adoption, and expansion. The ideal candidate can demonstrate the key technical differentiators of the Alkira service, architect and build alongside customer teams, and help enterprises transform their network to become disruptive, creative, and innovative. As an FDE, you sit at the intersection of Sales, Engineering, and the customer: you win technical evaluations, deploy real solutions in customer environments, and shape the product roadmap with a deep understanding of customer technical needs. Responsibilities - Embed with strategic customers as the hands-on technical owner from evaluation through production deployment - Lead network architecture discussions with customers and partners - Design, build, and deploy Alkira-based solutions in customer environments using best practices - Develop automation, integrations, and tooling (Terraform, APIs, scripting) to accelerate customer deployments - Collaborate directly with customer networking, cloud, and platform teams - Conduct technical workshops, trainings, and whiteboard sessions for customers and partners - Create design and architecture best practices, reference architectures, and deployment guidelines - Provide deep technical support and troubleshooting for customers, escalating and driving resolution with Engineering - Own customer success on key accounts from adoption and expansion perspective - Work with Alkira Product Management and Engineering to provide feedback on upcoming features from the customer's lens - Track and drive key customer features/asks with Product Management through to implementation Minimum Requirements - Strong cloud and networking fundamentals - 3+ years in a customer-facing technical role (consulting, solutions architecture, sales engineering, or professional services) - 1+ years of hands-on experience architecting and deploying cloud solutions (AWS, Azure, GCP, and/or OCI) - Hands-on experience designing and building hybrid and public cloud infrastructure - Strong networking background in routing technologies and network security - Proficiency with infrastructure-as-code and automation tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, Python, REST APIs) - Experience in large-scale network design/deployment is a plus - Strong passion for customer outcomes and creating long-lasting professional relationships - Flexibility to travel to customer sites - Relevant technical certifications are a plus - Excellent written and verbal communication skills - BA/BS/MS degree is a plus ABOUT ALKIRA [Alkira, a Lumen company](https://www.linkedin.com/company/alkiranet/?viewAsMember=true), 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 har…