Senior Systems Engineer

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.

We are seeking a Senior Sales Engineer as the customer facing, technical resource supporting Emerging Internet Content Providers, Data Center Operators, and Content Delivery Operators for the western part of the United States. The ideal candidate requires a strong technical background with an understanding of Ciena’s optical products, routing/switching products, software, and customer applications. In addition, the candidate should possess the ability to position Ciena’s leadership in networking hardware and software solutions as well as how Ciena’s offerings differentiate against the competition. Candidate must be located in the western United States.

How You Will Contribute

·        Perform technical oversight, including on-site customer engagements, support customer and internal architectural discussions, and requirements definition into the engineering organizations.

·        Ability to produce written proposals, network engineering designs/documentation, as well as quoting the solutions. 

·        Be able to create, communicate and articulate the value of solutions to customers.

·        Understand the customer’s network, software applications, and architecture. 

·        Work with both internal and external organizations to drive solutions for our customers. 

·        Consult with customers on best practices and how to incorporate Ciena’s technology into their networks. 
 

The Must Haves

·        Remote sales engineer supporting Ciena’s emerging ICP, DCO and CDO customers.

·        Serve as a customer-facing primary contact for advanced technical issues.

·        Ability to understand network architectures and their building blocks.

·        Utilize Ciena’s design and modeling tools to model optical network architectures.

·        Assist in the preparation of quotes, RFx's responses, and forecasts.

·        Understand and assist customers in their API and software integration efforts.  

·        Collect and assist in the assessment of new product features.

·        Manage and track customer requests and help coordinate sales activities.

·        Assist Customer Product and Technology solution discussions and presentations

·        Support in the development of pricing strategies and incentives to win business

·        Assist in tracking of product deliverables and communicating issues to regional teams

·        Lead the transition of customers from end-of life products to other Ciena solutions.

·        Plan and support product certification, acceptance testing, and network introduction activities. 

·        Make independent decisions on routine technical activities in accordance with company policy and procedures.

·        Travel (up to 50%) to customers sites, R&D locations and technical conferences for customer engagements, technical discussions and presentations.

·        Performs other duties as assigned.

·        Building network cost models that drive optimization of network designs.

·        Understanding basic concepts of Data Center architectures, spine and leaf designs, edge networking, routing, switching, and optical transport.

·        Basic understanding of Automation SW architecture, common workflows, ZTP methods, DCN networking, APIs, and networking models.

·        Familiarity with cloud architecture and deploying/running applications in a cloud environment. 

·        Construction of product feature/price analysis spreadsheets

·        Sales opportunity and quote tool experience a plus

·        Project management and organizational skills

·        Problem-solving and communication skills

·        Strategy development

·        Time management skills; ability to plan, prioritize, execute & follow-up within a timely manner

·        Professionalism in attitude, conduct, and appearance Ability to build strong customer relationships and support an overall sales strategy

·        Technical background and desire to learn new technologies

·        Demonstrated ability to manage on-going activities such as RFP activity, trials and product acceptance

·        Must be able to communicate and work with Ciena engineering organizations and articulate the technical concepts and design to our customers.

·        Excellent organizational skills due to dynamic nature of activities

·        Superior verbal and written communication skills

·        Bachelor’s Degree (CS, EE), or equivalent experience, required

·        Master’s Degree, preferred

·        7+ years telecommunications/industry experience

·        Engineering or Product Management background required

·        Prior Internet Content Provider sales experience would be beneficial

The annual pay range for this position is $144,000 - $230,000 USD

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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.

If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.