Operational Leader

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.

As Regional Operational Leader, EMEA Submarine, you lead and manage all regional Services and Operations including project delivery, training delivery, and post-sales support in compliance with the contractual requirements.

Your customers are Telecommunications Operators and located mainly in Europe, Middle East and Africa. These customers typically select Ciena to increase their submarine cables capacity. The projects are typically large (multi-millions of dollars) and complex (multiple countries, high risk jurisdictions).

Your responsibilities consist in:

• Supporting the pre-sales and sales activities efforts via the production of project planning, services scope of work & pricing, support the contract negotiation where needed
• Coordinating the execution of the different projects, allocate the resources, ensure the projects are delivered on time, per the contractual specifications and within budgets
• Coordinate the maintenance of the deployed networks and ensure the service levels agreements are met and the customers satisfied
• Managing the risks inherent to high risks jurisdictions.
• Managing a middle size organization including project directors, project managers, a project management office, network engineers, network technicians and field service partners.
• Reporting to the organization including project progress, financial update (revenues, margins, invoice, cash collection), projects risks.
• Managing changes to plan
• Adjusting the resources to align with Business forecast
• Coordinating annual business planning (Order, Revenue, Margin) and report actuals vs. plan.
• Coordinating internal and external functions to meet & exceed customers expectations
• Developing a services cross/upsell strategy.
• Driving maximum customer satisfaction.

To accomplish this, you bring thoughtful leadership and a collaborative consultative approach to the role every day.  To clients, you will convey a keen understanding of Ciena’s complete value solutions across products and services, delivery, support, quality and expertise. In addition, you will help navigate the comprehensive challenges involved in the design and implementation of complex next generation networks. 

The Contribution:

• Provide day-to-day leadership and management to a submarine market Service organization that mirrors the adopted mission and core values of the company. Build a world class services business in the region.
• Responsible for driving the region to achieve and surpass sales, profitability, cash flow, business goals and objectives while delighting customers.
• Responsible for the measurement and effectiveness of all processes internal and external. Provides timely, accurate and complete reports on the operating condition of the regional hubs / operating units.
• Spearhead Services regional development, communication and implementation of effective growth strategies and processes.
• Lead team to develop intimacy and understanding of all aspects of franchise’s customer base and segments
• Upsell customers, build awareness and enthusiasm for Ciena’s high value services
• Collaborate with the management team to develop and implement plans for the Services operational infrastructure of systems, processes, and personnel designed to accommodate the rapid growth objectives of our organization.
• Motivate and lead a diverse, high-performance management team; attract, recruit and retain; provide mentoring as a cornerstone to the management career development program.
• Act as lead "client-care officer" through direct contact with every customer and partner.
• Foster a success-oriented, accountable environment within the local regional Services organization.
• Represent Ciena Services on submarine contract negotiation from initiation to execution with the objectives to maximize services revenues and margin as well as protecting Ciena interests.

Success will evidence itself in the following ways:

• Increase revenue growth, profits and improved renewal growth
• Demonstrated track record in world class external customer support organizations, systems automation, organizational transformation, regional leadership, and technical services domain experience for Ciena’s customer base.
• Champion externally and internally for Ciena Services capabilities resulting in significant growth and contribution to Ciena’s overall business.
• Achieving on all financial metrics of the Services regional P&L reporting and understanding to include annual revenue & margin contribution goals.
• Exceeding customer experience & satisfaction targets.
• Demonstrating ability to build working relationships with customer’s executive decision makers & functional owners.
• Developing your team through targeted purposeful learning experiences enabling each to meet their full potential and achieve career aspirations.
• Working within the organization and receiving high peer evaluations as a leader
• Stabilize a global team by sharing the Services vision and strategic narrative to inspire, motivate and challenge diverse teams globally.
   

Ideal Profile:

You are knowledgeable about the technology marketplace, dynamics, and trends. You bring to the organization the following competencies.

• Bachelor’s Degree or relevant years’ work experience.
• Min 10-15 years in technology industry in leadership role, preferable proven strong Services and Customer facing role experience.
• Ability to translate global services objectives into regional services plans.
• Ability to build credibility & relationships with customer decision makers and Ciena leaders & partners.
• Budget focused mindset, with a “customer first” commitment to drive business growth.
• Ability to build relationships with business executives, influencers & decision makers.
• Demonstrated years of organizational leadership skills running a Services organization spanning local regional and many countries in the technology sector.
• Fundamental understanding of what it takes to effectively support a complex, next generation telecommunication network.
• Excellent written, verbal and client-facing communications skills.
• Demonstrated years of organizational operations with regional accounts.
• Ability to defend Ciena service proposals and negotiate contracts on the behalf of Ciena

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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.