The Sales Engineering Manager for Southern Europe leads a high-performing team of Sales Engineers responsible for driving technical excellence and customer success with Forcepoint's network appliance and cloud-based security solutions. This is a strategic, consultative pre-sales leadership role, directly influencing major enterprise deals across diverse industries such as financial services, retail, transportation, healthcare, and education. The Manager partners closely with executive stakeholders, customers, and internal engineering teams to shape product design, deployment strategies, and future innovations.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
Define and execute the technical pre-sales strategy for the Southern Europe region, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
Lead by example, demonstrating best-in-class technical expertise, consultative selling, and customer engagement.
Team Development & Performance
Mentor and coach team members, creating personalized development plans to accelerate career growth.
Drive accountability for individual and team performance metrics, ensuring consistent achievement of goals.
Customer & Partner Engagement
Oversee delivery of compelling technical presentations and solution demonstrations to senior technical and business decision-makers.
Guide architecture and design of secure enterprise solutions tailored to customer needs.
Build strong relationships with partners, enabling technical readiness and joint solution positioning.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with Sales, Product Management, and Engineering to influence product roadmap and ensure successful project milestones.
Support proof-of-concept activities and technical evaluations in collaboration with account teams.
Market & Competitive Strategy
Define and analyze the competitive landscape within Southern Europe, developing strategies to overcome technical and business challenges.
Recommend policy and process improvements impacting the broader organization.
Travel & Representation
Extensive travel across Southern Europe is required to engage with customers, partners, and internal teams.
Represent Forcepoint at key customer engagements, industry events, and partner forums throughout the region.
Requirements & Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.
Extensive leadership experience managing pre-sales teams in enterprise technology environments.
Proven success in cybersecurity pre-sales (minimum 3 years in security domain).
Deep understanding of cybersecurity technologies and cloud platforms across multiple security domains.
Expertise in Cloud Security, SASE/SSE, SD-WAN/NGFW, and Data Security.
Preferred certifications: OCSP, CCNP, CCIE, CISSP, FCNSP, CEH.
Exceptional communication, presentation, and executive influencing skills.
Ability and willingness to travel extensively across Southern Europe (up to 50–70%).
Language proficiency: Fluent in English and at least one major Southern European language (Italian, Spanish or French). Additional languages are a plus.