Director, Solutions Product Line Management

They gather information about your interactions on the site, such as which pages you visit frequently, how long you stay, and the links or buttons you click. They help us record any difficulties you have with the website and help us to evaluate the effectiveness of our advertising.  By analyzing this data, we can understand what aspects of our site are effective and identify areas for improvement.
* This is a secondary processing purpose.
* This is a secondary processing purpose.
* This is a primary processing purpose.
* This is a secondary processing purpose.

As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

This role serves as the technical and strategic interface between product management, sales, and customers—translating complex customer requirements into winning solutions that leverage Ciena’s innovative routing, switching, and optical capabilities.

The ideal candidate blends deep networking expertise, market insight, and business acumen—acting as the “tip of the spear” in developing and evangelizing differentiated IP/Ethernet solutions that address explosive traffic growth driven by AI/LLMs, 5G/6G, cloud, and next-generation digital services.
** How You Will Contribute:
**** Customer and Market Engagement
*** Act as the primary PLM interface for strategic tenders and new opportunities—defining solution approaches, product recommendations, and competitive positioning.
* Together with account teams and strategic sales, lead consultative engagements with service providers, MSOs, large enterprises to define optimal solutions based on their technical and business needs.
* Serve as a thought leader in the IP networking domain, representing Ciena at customer events, industry forums, and conferences.
** Solution Definition and Demand Generation
*** Develop solution frameworks and value propositions that showcase how Ciena’s routing & switching portfolio solves real-world challenges—focusing on IP/optical convergence, metro/aggregation, IP service edge, cloud interconnect, and mobile transport.
* Identify emerging applications and technologies that can drive demand and revenue growth across multiple market segments.
* Collaborate with sales teams to define target solution / application opportunities and go-to-market priorities.
** Cross-Functional Leadership
*** Coordinate cross-functional resources across RSD—including Solutions Engineering & Introduction (SE&I), hardware and software PLMs, and network / product line architects—to design, validate, and launch integrated customer solutions
* Provide direct input to product PLMs on roadmap priorities based on customer feedback, competitive dynamics, and evolving market needs.
* Partner with solution and product marketing to create compelling collateral (presentations, white papers, solution briefs) and support Ciena events such as Power Hours, Connections, and key trade shows.
** Must Haves:
**** Technical Expertise
*** 10+ years of experience in product management, network architecture/design, or technical pre-sales within the telecom or networking industry.
* Deep knowledge of IP/MPLS, SR-MPLS, SRv6, EVPN/IPVPN, BGP/MP-BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, and Ethernet technologies including MEF services, Ethernet OAM, and FlexE
* Solid understanding of network timing and synchronization (PTP, SyncE, G.8275), QoS, and OAM concepts and technologies
* In-depth knowledge of and familiarity with IETF, IEEE, and MEF standards relevant to IP/Ethernet.
* Strong understanding of network management, orchestration, and SDN implementations and their importance role in an overall solutions context
* Awareness of optical networking fundamentals such as coherent DWDM, photonic line systems / ROADMs, and OTN is highly desirable.
** Application & Architecture Knowledge
*** Strong grasp of IP/Optical convergence, AI infrastructure, data center and cloud connectivity, mobile…