Senior Manager, Sales Engineering

Ciena is committed to our people-first philosophy. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a personalized and flexible work environment that empowers an individual’s passions, growth, wellbeing and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

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What will you do at Ciena?

Ciena is looking for highly motivated and talented customer-facing manager of a new IP and Optical  Sales Engineering ME team addressing customer requirements and opportunities across Miidle East customers. This is a great opportunity to lead a dedicated team of Sales engineers looking at all levels of technology provided by Ciena. Coaching the team and engaging with the customers at many different technical levels to position Ciena’s solutions.

This manager will own the technical long-term strategy for this major area of focus and will be accountable for the teams direction and outcomes across the ME.

The position involves elements of direct management of a highly technical sales engineering team, close peering/liaising with region sales leaders as well as senior/director level counterparts within the Ciena organization. The role requires knowledge of optical transport and IP technologies, and good understanding of submarine telecommunication market and business models.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Customer / Ciena Relationships

• Build trust with key technology decision makers within customer base
• Be the subject matter expert and technical advisor to our customers
• Liaise with other sales teams and drive collaboration on common projects where needed

Team Building & Management

• Assess the market opportunity along with Sales Leaders
• Build and nurture a strong technical team of Pre-Sales experts
• General team management functions (Performance | Appraisals | Feedback | Hiring etc)
• Executive readouts and business reporting functions
• Identify, communicate, and discuss SE team objectives. Mentor team members to encourage development and training.

Ciena Products & Solutions

• Build expertise on Ciena optical transport and IP solutions
• Be able to drive network architecture discussions, comparisons and clearly articulate Ciena’s value proposition as a market leader in this segment
• Be aware of competitive landscape on technology and commercial models
• Lead Customer Product solution discussions and presentations
• Lead in the preparation of quotes, RFx's, and forecasts
• Own the end to end solution responsibility for Ciena proposals to end customers.
• Driving deep collaboration across the SE, S3 and PLM functions

Track the Market

• Keep track of technology evolution and network architecture 
• Keep track of regional regulations around acquisition of fiber, network operating license etc.
• Be able to corelate trends and identify business opportunities for Ciena.

Areas of impact 

• Strong technologist and follower of industry trends. Have a strong profile within our industry segment and be recognized as a key influencer.
• Good working knowledge of Ciena and competitor solutions, and their relative merits in delivering value to customers in solving their challenges.
• Expert level of knowledge of optical transport technologies (OTN, DWDM, DCI, etc) and good understanding of Core Routing/Switching technologies and protocols and multi-layer network architectures (IP, Ethernet, MPLS) is required
• Exceptional team management, development and participation skills, showing the ability to exert direct and indirect influence
• Strong process management, problem solving and organization skills.
• Outstanding communicator and relationship builder
• Ability to effectively peer and connect into the various parts of the Ciena EMEA and corporate/global organization in support of the position’s objectives and responsibilities. Peering and liaisons will typically be at the director level and above
• Ability to travel as needed ~ 20%.

Experience

• Technical Degree; BSEE or relevant experience
• 10+  years telecommunication industry experience
• Solid proven experience in the communication industry although must be commercially minded, the candidate will have a practical engineering back-ground with sales experience to add to the technical capabilities.
• Business acumen and understanding of sales cycle and stage requirements
• Established track record of working within a cross-functional team and “leading by influence”.
• Established track record of senior/director level engagements with a range of functions within a given organization: Commercial, Engineering, Product Management, Services

Excellent written and verbal communication skills (English and Arabic), both technical and non-technical.

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At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard.  Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

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