Consulting Sales Engineer

$173,400 - $277,400/Yr

Ciena - Baltimore, MD

Full-time - Mid Level

Onsite - Baltimore, MD

Telecommunications

About the position

Ciena is committed to a people-first philosophy, fostering a culture that prioritizes a personalized and flexible work environment. The Consulting Sales Engineer will play a crucial role in supporting the sales of Optical and Ethernet networking gear to a leading cable operator. This position requires building close consultative relationships with customers and developing a strong knowledge of Ciena's products to design and quote networks that best suit customer needs. The role also involves providing architectural and logistical support for the customer's certification and network introduction of new products and concepts. In this position, you will work closely with customer engineering teams to design Ciena optical network solutions based on cutting-edge fiber optics technology and ultra-high capacity technologies. You will spend substantial time with the customer's engineering, planning, and lab engineers, primarily located in the Denver Tech Center and Centennial, Colorado. Your responsibilities will include driving the technical introduction of new products and concepts, analyzing and evaluating customer technical requirements, proposing network architecture solutions, and responding to RFIs, RFPs, and other customer requests. Additionally, you will provide product and technical presentations and informal training to customers, utilize Ciena design tools to verify network solutions, and ensure the accurate and timely generation of quotes, proposals, and detailed equipment lists. Continuous personal development is essential, as you will be expected to maintain and grow your technical expertise, product knowledge, and sales skills through ongoing training. Mentoring other engineers and driving continuous improvement of internal processes and documentation will also be part of your role. You will interface with sales, marketing, and product management to propose product enhancements that meet customer requirements and understand competitor offerings to explain the technical advantages of Ciena's solutions. Hands-on demonstrations and basic operation of networking equipment will be required, along with a small amount of out-of-town travel.

Responsibilities

• Work with customer engineering teams to design Ciena optical network solutions based on state-of-the-art fiber optics technology and ultra-high capacity technologies.
• Develop, build and maintain close customer relationships, spending substantial time with the customer's engineering, planning and lab engineers.
• Drive the technical introduction of new products and concepts to the customer.
• Analyze and evaluate the customer's technical requirements, propose network architecture solutions and respond to RFIs, RFPs and other customer requests.
• Provide product and technical presentations and informal training to the customer.
• Use Ciena design tools to verify network solutions.
• Accurate and timely generation of quotes, proposals, and detailed equipment lists.
• Maintain and grow your own technical expertise, product knowledge and sales skills through ongoing training.
• Mentor the development of other engineers and drive continuous improvement of internal processes and documentation.
• Interface with sales, marketing and product management to develop and/or propose product enhancements to meet customer requirements.
• Understand competitor's offerings and explain the technical advantages of Ciena's solutions.
• Perform hands-on demonstrations and basic operation of networking equipment.

Requirements

• Strong technical knowledge of core optical networking including DWDM, ROADM, photonics and coherent transmission.
• Proficient in use of network design and modeling tools.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective customer relationships.
• Sound judgement in customer interactions.
• Experience in the generation of quotes, proposals, and detailed equipment lists.
• Experience with or supporting a cable operator.
• Be a team-player, collaborative, motivated to succeed.
• Excellent attention to detail and the ability to follow through to resolve problems.
• Flexible, able to prioritize, organize and operate in a fast moving, aggressive environment with minimal supervision.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Knowledge of Ciena's optical networking products.
• Working knowledge of Ciena's network design tools.
• Technical strength in Ethernet and IP (L2 and L3) technologies (e.g. CCNA certification).
• Experience with access network technologies, especially PON.
• Ability to manipulate large data sets and write complex formulas and macros in Excel.
• Working knowledge of Salesforce for opportunity management.
• Hands on experience commissioning and operating Ciena products.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision plans
• Participation in 401(K) with company matching
• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Company-paid holidays
• Paid sick leave
• Vacation time