Lead Sales Engineer

Job Summary

The Lead Sales Engineer - Strategic Accounts is the technical execution leader for some of Equinix’s most complex and globally significant customers, including leading tech, social media, and neocloud accounts. Under the direction of Solutions Engineering leadership, this role owns the end-to-end design and pursuit execution of advanced data center, interconnection, and hybrid infrastructure solutions - translating global account strategy into deployable architectures across regions.

Working in close partnership with the Account Executive and Global Solutions Architect, the Lead SE serves as the subject matter expert for data center design, emerging infrastructure technologies, high-density compute, and custom build-to-suit solutions, ensuring technical excellence and commercial viability in every engagement.

This is a high-visibility role both within and outside of the company. The successful candidate brings a rare combination of deep data center and infrastructure expertise, advanced client engagement skills, and the technical authority to lead through complex, multi-region pursuits. The ideal candidate is equally adept at business-outcome conversations with C-level executives and deeply technical discussions on complex data center, AI, and interconnection solutions.

Responsibilities

Strategic Account Technical Leadership

• Serve as a trusted technical advisor throughout the sales lifecycle, partnering with the Account Executive and Global Solutions Architect to achieve and exceed global bookings and revenue targets.

• Lead detailed technical discovery across global stakeholders to define requirements for space, power, cooling, density, resiliency, compliance, and interconnection.

• Own the technical win for regional and global pursuits by delivering comprehensive design documentation, architecture diagrams, and solution walkthroughs.

• Align regional designs with the global account technical roadmap to ensure consistency and scalability across geographies.

• Support forecast accuracy and deal progression by clearly articulating solution scope, risks, dependencies, and technical differentiators.

• Serve as a technical SME in the customer’s domain - including earning relevant certifications where appropriate - to understand the business, speak the customer’s language, and advance ecosystem opportunities on Platform Equinix.

• Engage the extended Equinix global technical community to provide coordinated strategy and a superior customer experience wherever the customer requires Equinix services.

Data Center Architecture and Solution Design

• Design complex colocation and infrastructure solutions, including high-density AI and GPU deployments, liquid cooling strategies, advanced power modeling, and hybrid cloud architectures.

• Serve as subject matter expert for emerging technologies, including high-performance compute environments, distributed architectures, sovereign deployments, and sustainability-driven design.

• Develop and articulate scalable global deployment strategies for customers operating across multiple regions with diverse regulatory and operational requirements.

• Lead custom design services engagements, including build-to-suit solutions, phased expansion strategies, and specialized infrastructure configurations.

• Partner with xScale, IBX design, construction, operations, and product teams to ensure feasibility, compliance, and delivery readiness of proposed solutions.

• Maintain a strong understanding of the competitive landscape across retail and wholesale data center providers, and articulate Equinix differentiation clearly across the full colocation and interconnection portfolio.

• Deliver Equinix’s sustainability story with awareness of emerging regional requirements and Equinix’s commitments to meet them.

• Demonstrate expert-level fluency in next-generation data center trends, including liquid cooling, AI infrastructure, power generation, density, and PUE.

Technical Pursuit Leadership and Innovation Support

• Own the technical components of RFP and proposal responses, including architecture validation, risk mitigation, and scope definition.

• Drive quoting processes, capacity reviews, facility tours, and advanced technical workshops tied to complex infrastructure pursuits.

• Support co-innovation initiatives led by the Global Solutions Architect by translating validated blueprints and reference architectures into executable regional deployments.

• Participate in Solution Validation Center engagements, proofs of concept, and technical validation programs tied to advanced or emerging architectures.

• Provide field-driven feedback to product, engineering, and operations teams to inform roadmap evolution based on strategic customer requirements and deployment realities.

• Closely follow industry trends and developments across power generation, liquid cooling, AI infrastructure, and data center design to shape account team priorities and lead from the front on technology innovation.

• Continually increase technical depth and develop problem-solving skills through formal education, certifications, self-study, and individual development planning.

• Contribute to the Global Technical Sales community through knowledge sharing, team enablement, and continuous learning.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in technical pre-sales, infrastructure engineering, or data center architecture roles within complex enterprise or hyperscale environments.

• Deep expertise in data center infrastructure, including power density modeling, cooling technologies, interconnection strategy, resiliency design, and hybrid cloud integration.

• Experience supporting global or hyperscaler-grade deployments with multi-region coordination.

• Strong understanding of AI infrastructure requirements, including high-density compute and liquid cooling considerations.

• Familiarity with custom design services, phased capacity planning, and build-to-suit engagements.

• Experience managing complex RFP processes and cross-functional solution delivery.

• Solutions selling experience in a technical pre-sales position required.

• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline preferred. Industry certifications preferred.

• Equivalent experience through alternative paths, including non-traditional backgrounds or career transitions, is welcomed and valued.

Required Skills

• Strong technical depth with the ability to translate complex infrastructure designs into clear customer-facing narratives.

• Equally adept at C-level business-outcome conversations and deeply technical discussions on complex data center, AI, and interconnection solutions.

• Structured and precise in documentation, design artifacts, and technical validation.

• Highly collaborative across sales, product, engineering, operations, and construction teams.

• Commercially aware, balancing architectural rigor with revenue impact and deal velocity.

• Forward-looking mindset with strong interest in emerging infrastructure technologies and evolving data center trends.

• Delivers executive-ready technical presentations and comprehensive customer design documentation.

• Excellent executive engagement skills with the ability to operate credibly across CIO, CTO, and SVP stakeholders.

• Fosters a culture of continuous technical learning and brings an innovation-oriented mindset to design and pursuit execution.

• Consistent focus on execution and high-quality customer outcomes, with strong organizational and documentation discipline.