About the Role
Ciena builds the critical infrastructure powering the AI era, shaping the future of networking. The Technical Sales Lead is a technical resource supporting the Blue Planet sales team, responsible for actively driving and managing the technology evaluation in the sales process, working alongside the sales leader and Solution Architect as a technical advisor. They must articulate technology and product positioning to both business and technical users, identify technical issues at assigned accounts to ensure customer satisfaction through all stages of the sales process, and establish and maintain strong customer relationships throughout and after the sales cycle.
Roles and Responsibilities
•Present the product at a high level to individual customer prospects.
•Occasionally conduct product demonstrations at meetings, conferences, seminars, etc.
•Co-ordinate and manage the response to functional and technical elements of RFIs/RFPs with support from the Solution Architect.
•Manage the product evaluation process and create any Proof of Concept (PoC) success criteria documentation with support of the Solution Architect and System Engineering teams.
•Support the Sales Leader in the Pricing of a solution using the standard product price book.
•Lead and own the creation of the Services Estimation and associated Statement of Order (SOW). This includes the co-ordination and creation of any critical project review material.
•Be the customer technical product resource for questions, including technical escalations to product support and delivery services teams.
The Must Haves
•Minimum 8 years in a senior pre-sales or project delivery role within the OSS platform industry.
•Over 10 years' experience of telecommunication networking technologies including WANs, LANs, and network infrastructure technologies (including L0/L1/L2/L3 Switching & Routing and Virtual Network Functions) and 5G (Wireless).
•Direct experience in the sale and/or delivery of at least one of the following OSS platforms:
•Network Orchestration – Activation – Physical and Virtual.
•Network and Service Assurance, Performance and SQM.
•Inventory systems supporting planning or service provisioning.
•Good interpersonal verbal and written communications skills including experience supporting the scoping, managing and executing customer product evaluations.
•Outstanding organizational and problem-solving skills, including the ability to meet a business requirement with a technical solution, even in stressful customer situations.
•This role is based on the east coast of the USA and the candidate is expected to be able to attend meetings in person in locations around the DC, Virginia and Maryland area on a daily basis. Relocation costs will not be covered for this role.
•Ability to travel domestically and sometimes on short notice outside of the target area.
•Must either currently hold or have previously held USA government clearance status to be able to work on specific projects.
Nice to Haves
•Existing knowledge within USA Government Agencies and the various operating groups and processes.
•Understanding of the Telco OSS ecosystem and ideally deep knowledge of one or more of the existing OSS providers products – Amdocs, Ericsson, Netcracker, Oracle, Nokia etc.
•Experience in the creation of Solution Requirement documents as part of an OSS deployment project.
Compensation
The annual total target compensation pay range for this position is $144,000 - $230,000, including both base and incentive compensation. Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting diverse products, industries, and lines of business. This pay range pertains specifically to the primary location listed. Non-Sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus, while Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission.
Ciena also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time.
