The Data Center Pre-Sales Engineer is responsible for designing end-to-end data center solutions—covering compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and technical expertise in passive infrastructure and disaster recovery (DR) resiliency. You will work closely with sales teams, customers, and technical stakeholders to understand business needs, propose the right solutions, and ensure seamless integration into existing environments, including structured cabling, racks, power, cooling, containment, and DC layout design. The role supports sales teams by translating customer requirements into accurate technical proposals, BOQs, and solution architectures.
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Key Responsibilities
- Engage with customers to understand their IT infrastructure, workloads, and business challenges.
- Conduct discovery sessions to assess current environments and identify gaps in storage, backup, virtualization, and DR strategies.
- Provide technical expertise on system architecture, high availability, and scalability.
- Design and propose multi-vendor solutions tailored to customer needs, covering compute, storage, backup, and DR.
- Architect solutions leveraging technologies from VMware, Hyper-V, Veeam, Commvault, NetApp, Dell EMC, HPE, Pure Storage, Veritas, Zerto, Rubrik, and Cohesity.
- Create high-level and low-level designs (HLD/LLD) for proposed solutions.
- Ensure solutions align with industry best practices for security, performance, and scalability.
- Conduct product demos, POCs (Proof of Concepts), and workshops for customers.
- Develop technical collateral such as presentations, whitepapers, and use-case scenarios.
- Work with sales teams to respond to RFPs/RFIs, ensuring the right mix of solutions is proposed.
- Draft Bill of Materials (BoM) and technical proposals with detailed justifications.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams including sales, professional services, and support teams.
Qualifications
Technical Skills – Active Data Center
- Compute platforms: HPE, Dell, Cisco UCS
- Storage: SAN/NAS (HPE, Dell EMC, NetApp, Pure)
- Virtualization: VMware vSphere, Hyper-V
- HCI: Nutanix, VxRail, Azure Stack HCI
- Backup: Veeam, Commvault
- Networking: L2/L3, SAN (Brocade/Cisco), ToR/leaf-spine basics
Technical Skills – Passive Infrastructure
- Structured cabling standards (Cat6/6A, Fiber OM3/OM4, SM)
- Rack and cabinet design
- Power planning (UPS, PDU, redundancy, load distribution)
- Cooling concepts (CRAC/CRAH, in-row, hot/cold aisle containment)
- Understanding of DCIM tools
- Knowledge of TIA-942, Uptime, ISO standards
Preferred Certifications
- HPE ASE / Dell DCA / Cisco CCNP / VMware VCP
- Nutanix NCP/NSE / Veeam VMSP/VMCE
- Storage & Backup: NetApp NCDA/NCIE, Dell EMC Proven Professional, Veeam VMCE, Commvault Certified Engineer.
- Data center certification: CDCP
Good to Have
- Panduit/CommScope cabling knowledge
- BICSI Installer / Technician
- Azure/AWS certifications (foundation or associate)
- Cloud & Hybrid IT: Experience with Azure, AWS, Google Cloud in backup/DR use cases.
- AI Infrastructure
Soft Skills
- Strong presentation and communication skills.
- Ability to simplify complex solutions for customers.
- Customer-centric and solution-oriented approach.
- Excellent troubleshooting and analytical skills.
