Reference Solution Engineer — Telco & MSSP

About the role:

Our CSE Solutions team builds and validates the reference architectures that Fortinet's largest service provider and MSSP customers deploy in production. We don't just write slideware — we build, test, and ship Reference Solution Stacks (RSS) as executable artifacts, with validation pipelines that prove they work at carrier scale.

We're looking for an engineer who treats validation as a first-class discipline: someone who can stand up a multi-vendor topology, push it to its limits, and turn the results into evidence the field can sell on.

What you'll do:

• Design and execute validation campaigns for Telco and MSSP reference architectures, with a focus on CGNAT, SecGW, SD-WAN, uniSASE, and large-scale firewalling
• Build performance and scalability test plans using tools like Spirent, Ixia/Keysight and FortiTester
• Contribute to Reference Solution Stack (RSS) — your validation work is the artifact's release gate
• Automate test execution and reporting through CI pipelines so results are reproducible, not one-off heroics
• Work directly with field SEs on customer-driven validation requests, turning real opportunities into reusable evidence
• Feed findings back into Product Management and Engineering to shape what gets built next
• Produce clear technical documentation, live demos and Proof of concepts, and customer-facing reports

What we need:

• Strong networking foundation: routing, switching, IPsec, BGP, QoS, and security fundamentals
• Hands-on experience in service provider, large enterprise, or MSSP environments — production scale, not just lab toys
• Solid Linux, scripting (Python or Bash), and comfort with virtualization (KVM, OpenShift and Hyperscalers)
• Sharp troubleshooting instincts across multi-layer, multi-vendor systems
• Ability to drive your own work — we run on consent-based governance, not micromanagement.

The Validation & Lab Team has flat decision-making, clear role accountabilities, and high autonomy over your domain. If that sounds refreshing, you'll fit. If you want a top-down hierarchy, you won't.

Bonus points for:

• Traffic generator experience (Spirent / Ixia / FortiTester)
• CI/CD for infrastructure: GitLab CI, Jenkins, pipeline-driven testing
• Telco protocol depth: GTP, Diameter, 5G core, carrier-grade NAT
• Experience writing Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, Ansible) or treating documentation as code

Why this role:

• You'll work on the reference architectures that show up in the largest service provider RFPs in EMEA
• Your validation results directly drive multi-million-euro deals — your work is visible and consequential
• You'll help shape how Fortinet productises validation as code, not as a deliverable