Lead Sales Engineer

CenturyLink is an industry-leading provider of communications, high speed Internet and entertainment services from coast to coast.  Our combination of business and residential service solutions – including home and wireless voice solutions and digital television – provide innovative solutions to our customers.  CenturyLink is proud to be a participant in the U.S. General Services Administration Networx program, the largest communications services contract in the world.  CenturyLink offers you the opportunity to develop and cultivate your career as we lead the communications industry into the future.

Come join the CenturyLink family and be a part of something special!

The Lead Sales Engineer is accountable for technical sales support of IT Infrastructure hosting services including data center/colocation, security, network, server/virtualization, automation/public cloud, managed services/applications, storage and backup.

 Responsibilities include preparing customer presentations, architectural designs, and bid responses. Solutions Engineers are also responsible for providing technical training for the sales force. Position Objectives: The overall objectives of the position are: • Provide technical support to help drive revenue through all sales channels • Present hosting and network capabilities to customers & prospects • Develop & present preliminary technical designs for customer solutions • Provide technical training to the sales teams • Work with Product Management to help drive appropriate product enhancements • Engage Consulting team to complement customer solutions

Essential duties: • Perform consultative, solutions-based design for Internet-centric business clients who desire outsourced infrastructure options to enhance their own technical capabilities, • Pre-sales design and implementation expertise in hosting and network service integration • Field technical questions from prospects and clients. • Understand client requirements and provide designs for hosted solutions • Provide consultative services based on prospect’s requirements and match to available service offerings, • Represent hosting and network technical capabilities to prospective customers and existing customer base, and influence customer expectations • Present proposed solutions in a professional business environment, demonstrating salesmanship and effective communication • Develop and grow technical knowledge base in hosting, cloud/virtualization, application, security, and network capabilities • Provide implementation guidance to installation personnel as needed to clarify service expectations; including providing diagrams, verbal explanation, and written documentation • Present technical training to new and existing sales and sales support personnel • Meet and exceed management targets for number of customer contacts, number and complexity of sales opportunities supported, and training completed • Provide technology consulting for internal contacts in Product Management and Marketing, and translate prospective customer requirements into recommendations for new or enhanced products and features • Ensure compliance with all Policies and Procedures • Attend company and regional meetings as required, maintain peer relationships and understand and utilize company resources • Understand data center space and power capabilities and environmental constraints on a client’s outsourced infrastructure,

Required skills: • Complete understanding of the sales process, • Demonstrated understanding of solutions in: hosting, network, security, cloud/virtualization, application, storage, backup, consulting services • Proficient with common office applications, including MS Outlook, MS Excel, and MS Visio, • Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills (oral, written and presentation), • Experience performing needs assessments, and making recommendations based on the discovered needs, • Ability to document solution components in a timely manner while ensuring acceptable level of detail, data integrity, and accountability, • Ability and willingness to share knowledge and expertise among various organizations within the company, • Ability and willingness to take the initiative to facilitate teamwork within the various organizations of the company to serve the customer, • Ability to work in a team environment and demonstrate strong problem solving skills, • Capability to schedule time with flexibility to handle varying workload, and still meet tight deadlines, • Ability to multi-task and work multiple projects simultaneously. Competency Level: Advanced level proficiency in the following Solutions Engineering competencies: • Identify Customer Needs • Problem Solving • Deliver Added Value to Customers • Build and Propose a Business Case • Make Persuasive Product/Solution Presentations • Commit Time and Effort to Increase Professional Development • Educate Customers through Structured Methodology

Basic Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/MIS/Computer Science/Telecom or equivalent work experience • 5 to 10 years of experience as a Solutions Engineer, Managed Hosting Support engineer (managed hosting, Cloud, virtualization), or related operational engineering role Additional Qualifications: • Experience with hosted voice applications such as conference calling, disaster recovery and personal mobility products. • Knowledge and at least two year’s experience in design of distributed, high availability server-based network computing infrastructures. Storage network experience is desirable. Compaq and Sun experience preferred. • Knowledge and at least two year’s experience in configuration and support of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, or Solaris operating systems, including remote management. • Knowledge of computer environmental facilities including power distribution, uninterruptible power switching systems, generators, air handling equipment, cabling and cable management systems, fire suppression, and security. • Web application design experience in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), Apache, and Java

No Discrimination. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all persons regardless of race, color, ancestry, citizenship, national origin, religion, veteran status, disability, genetic characteristic or information, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, pregnancy, or other legally protected status (collectively, “protected statuses”). We do not tolerate unlawful discrimination in any employment decisions, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, discipline, termination, job assignments or training. Any offer of employment is contingent upon the results of a pre-employment drug test and background check.