Technical Sales Lead – USA GOV

Ciena • Remote-US-DC, DC

12d • $144,000 - $230,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Technical Sales Lead is a technical resource supporting the Blue Planet sales team. In partnership with the sales leader and Solution Architect, this role drives and manages technology evaluations throughout the sales process and serves as a technical advisor. The Technical Sales Lead articulates product and technology positioning to business and technical audiences, identifies account-level technical issues, supports customer satisfaction throughout the sales process, and builds strong customer relationships during and after the sales cycle.

The position is based on the east coast of the USA. The successful candidate is expected to attend meetings in person daily in the DC, Virginia, and Maryland area. Domestic travel, sometimes on short notice and outside the target area, is required. Ciena does not expect to cover relocation costs. The role requires current or previous USA government clearance status to work on specific projects.

Requirements

• At least 8 years in a senior pre-sales or project delivery role within the OSS platform industry.
• More than 10 years of experience with telecommunications networking technologies, including WANs, LANs, network infrastructure technologies (L0/L1/L2/L3 switching and routing, and Virtual Network Functions), and 5G wireless.
• Direct experience selling and/or delivering at least one OSS platform in network orchestration/activation (physical and virtual), network and service assurance/performance/SQM, or inventory systems supporting planning or service provisioning.
• Strong verbal and written interpersonal communication skills, including experience supporting the scoping, management, and execution of customer product evaluations.
• Outstanding organizational and problem-solving skills, including the ability to meet business requirements with technical solutions in stressful customer situations.
• Current or previous USA government clearance status.
• Ability to attend in-person meetings daily in the DC, Virginia, and Maryland area.
• Ability to travel domestically, sometimes on short notice and outside the target area.

Nice To Haves

• Existing knowledge of USA government agencies, their operating groups, and processes.
• Understanding of the telecommunications OSS ecosystem and ideally deep knowledge of one or more OSS providers’ products, such as Amdocs, Ericsson, Netcracker, Oracle, or Nokia.
• Experience creating Solution Requirement documents as part of an OSS deployment project.

Responsibilities

• Present the product at a high level to individual customer prospects.
• Occasionally conduct product demonstrations at meetings, conferences, seminars, and similar events.
• Coordinate and manage responses to the functional and technical elements of RFIs and RFPs, with support from the Solution Architect.
• Manage product evaluations and create Proof of Concept success-criteria documentation with support from the Solution Architect and System Engineering teams.
• Support the Sales Leader in pricing solutions using the standard product price book.
• Lead and own the creation of Services Estimations and associated Statements of Work, including coordinating and creating critical project review materials.
• Serve as the customer’s technical product resource, answering questions and coordinating technical escalations to product support and delivery services teams.
• Attend in-person meetings in the DC, Virginia, and Maryland area and travel domestically, sometimes on short notice.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Participation in a 401(k) in the USA or DCPP in Canada, with company matching.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Company-paid holidays.
• Paid sick leave.
• Vacation time.
• Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence in compliance with applicable laws.
• Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission; non-sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed