Sales Engineer Data Center & AI Infrastructure

Job Description Job Description Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Competitive salary
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Sales Engineer

Data Center & AI Infrastructure
Department Sales
Reports To VP of Sales (dotted line to delivery leadership)
Location Remote (U.S.) - preference for candidates near a major data center market
Travel 30-40%
Employment Type Full-time, Exempt
ABOUT BNS

BNS, Inc. is a data center infrastructure services firm headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon. We deliver network deployment, structured cabling and conveyance, physical infrastructure build-out, and on-site technical operations for the operators building out AI compute capacity. Our work runs from greenfield fabric deployment and large-scale network refreshes through cutover and handback, into steady-state Layer 1 support, backed by our OpusWorks platform for proactive infrastructure management.
Our customers are hyperscalers, colocation and wholesale data center operators, neocloud and AI compute providers, and Forbes Global 2000 enterprises running their own critical facilities. Engagements range from fixed-bid deployment programs to multi-year, multi-site resource commitments. This is a market moving faster than the supply of people who can execute in it, and we are building the commercial team to match.

POSITION SUMMARY

We are hiring a Sales Engineer to serve as the technical lead on data center infrastructure pursuits. You are the person who walks a data hall with the customer's network engineering team, determines what the work actually involves, and converts that into a scope, an estimate, and a proposal BNS can win and deliver.
This role supports two to three Business Development Managers across hyperscaler, colocation, neocloud, and Global 2000 enterprise accounts. You own technical credibility in the room and technical accuracy in the paperwork - discovery, solution design, labor and material estimating, technical scope authorship, and a clean handoff to delivery.
Estimating accuracy is a core measure of this role. A proposal that wins on a number BNS cannot execute against is a loss with a longer fuse, and you are the safeguard against that.

TECHNICAL SCOPE OF THE ROLE

• Data center network deployment. Leaf-spine fabric architecture including top-of-rack leaf design, EVPN/VXLAN underlay and overlay, BGP and ECMP behavior, switch refresh and migration sequencing, staging, lab rehearsal, and cutover planning.
• AI and HPC fabrics. InfiniBand and RoCE cluster fabrics, GPU cluster topologies, fabric diagnostics and validation, and the deployment realities of high-density compute environments.
• Physical infrastructure. Structured cabling design and takeoff, fiber and copper plant, polarity and breakout schemes, cable tray and conveyance routing, rack elevations, port mapping, and pathway and space planning to TIA-942 distribution-area conventions.
• Migration and cutover engineering. Dependency graphing from live fabric state, risk identification, rollback design, method-of-procedure authorship, and per-rack acceptance criteria.
• Operations and platform. Layer 1 operational models, staffing and coverage design, and the OpusWorks proactive infrastructure management platform - its integrations, deployment model, and value case.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES


Discovery and Technical Qualification

• Lead technical discovery with customer network engineering, data center operations, and capital project teams to establish current state, constraints, and success criteria.
• Own site walks and physical surveys; capture rack elevations, pathway conditions, port counts, cable plant condition, and access and safety constraints.
• Perform fabric-state baselining and dependency analysis using customer topology data, LLDP/CDP and fabric diagnostic exports, and as-built documentation - and identify where the as-builts diverge from reality.
• Surface technical risk early and honestly: single-homed dependencies, undocumented shared-fate paths, access constraints, and delivery assumptions that will not hold.
• Recommend qualification or disqualification on technical and delivery grounds; the Business Development Manager makes the pursuit call.

Solution Design and Estimating

• Design the deployment approach: phasing, sequencing, staffing model, shift patterns, and site logistics.
• Build labor estimates by role, phase, and hour - the basis of every fixed-bid and time-and-materials proposal BNS issues.
• Produce bills of material and takeoffs for cabling, conveyance, optics, test equipment, and contingency spares; source vendor pricing and confirm lead times, with particular attention to optics and cable availability against the customer's schedule.
• Own bid workbook construction, and validate that the estimate, the scope narrative, and the delivery plan describe the same engagement.
• Model alternatives and trade-offs so the customer sees a considered set of options rather than a single take-it-or-leave-it number.

Technical Authorship of Proposals and Statements of Work

• Author the technical sections of proposals and statements of work: approach, scope, execution methodology, deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, and acceptance criteria. The Business Development Manager owns pricing basis and commercial terms.
• Write assumptions and exclusions with the precision that prevents disputes later - this is where margin is protected or lost.
• Respond to RFPs, RFIs, and customer technical questionnaires, including security, safety, and compliance sections.
• Price change orders during delivery when scope evolves; the Business Development Manager secures written customer authorization.
• Maintain and improve reusable proposal content, reference architectures, estimating templates, and standard scope language.

Customer-Facing Technical Leadership

• Present the BNS approach to customer engineering and operations audiences with the depth to withstand scrutiny from senior network engineers.
• Run technical workshops, design sessions, and whiteboard reviews during the pursuit.
• Demonstrate and position the OpusWorks platform, including its integration with customer fabric diagnostics, monitoring, and ticketing systems.
• Serve as the technical point of contact throughout the sales cycle, and as a trusted advisor rather than a product presenter.

Handoff, Feedback Loop, and Enablement

• Co-lead the formal handoff to delivery and project management at contract signature, covering estimate basis, assumptions, risks, and commitments made during the sale.
• Stay engaged through project mobilization to preserve continuity and resolve scope questions.
• Feed actual delivery outcomes back into the estimating model - close the loop between what was quoted and what it took.
• Keep technical scope, estimate versions, and solution notes current in the CRM alongside the Business Development Manager's commercial record.
• Support Business Development Managers with technical enablement so they can qualify and lead early conversations without escalating every question.
• Track technology and market developments - fabric architectures, optics, cabling standards, AI cluster deployment patterns - and bring that back to the team.

FIRST-YEAR EXPECTATIONS

First 30 days Complete onboarding on BNS delivery methodology, rate card and estimating model, bid workbook structure, and the OpusWorks platform. Shadow active pursuits and review recent proposals against their delivery outcomes.
First 90 days Independently lead technical discovery and produce a complete estimate and proposal technical section on at least one active opportunity, with a working rhythm established across your assigned Business Development Managers and delivery leadership.
First 6 months Full ownership of technical solutioning across assigned accounts, plus a measurable improvement to at least one reusable asset - estimating template, reference architecture, or standard scope library.
First 12 months Labor-hour estimating accuracy within 10% across delivered engagements, contribution to team quota attainment, and a demonstrated technical win rate on qualified pursuits.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Five or more years in a technical role within data center infrastructure, network deployment, structured cabling, or critical facilities, including at least two years in a customer-facing pre-sales, solution architecture, or technical consulting capacity.
• Deep hands-on expertise in one of the following two areas, and working familiarity with the other:
- Data center networking: leaf-spine and top-of-rack fabric design, BGP, ECMP, VLAN and VXLAN, EVPN, and switch platforms from at least one major vendor (Arista, Cisco, Juniper, NVIDIA/Mellanox, or comparable).
- Structured cabling and physical infrastructure: fiber and copper media types, polarity and breakout schemes, pathway and space design, TIA-942 distribution areas, labeling and documentation standards, and installation practice at data hall scale.
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