Senior Manager, Solution Engineering and Introduction

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.

We are seeking a dynamic and innovative leader to join the Solutions Engineering & Introduction team within the Product Line Management organization, supporting Ciena’s Optical Systems portfolio. This role will lead a team of direct and dotted‑line reports across the Americas to drive customer engagements.

In this fast‑paced, multidisciplinary, and customer‑facing environment, you will work closely with Product Development, Product Line Management, Sales Engineering, and Services to ensure team readiness to successfully introduce optical products and solutions to the market.

The ideal candidate is a strong people/technical leader with the ability to influence across functions, align diverse stakeholders to a focused execution plan, and has a proven track record driving technical customer engagements in optical networking.

• Lead and develop a geographically distributed team of systems engineers (direct and dotted‑line) across the Americas, providing technical direction, aligning resources to evolving priorities, and overseeing objective setting, performance management, and workload prioritization.
• Foster a high‑performance culture through mentoring, clear goal setting, regular feedback, and structured onboarding and training programs to accelerate team development.
• Serve as SE&I Regional Matrix Lead for the Americas, triaging incoming requests and coordinating cross‑functional resources (personnel and equipment); ensure customer activities are appropriately scoped and funded as Solution Validation Services (SVS) where applicable.
• Lead customer optical engagements across the Americas (onsite, Ciena labs, and remote), with full ownership of the Ottawa Customer Demo Lab (CDL) and Optical Solutions Validation Lab (OSVL).
• Oversee lab strategy and operations, including budget, infrastructure, and requirements, ensuring efficient setup and utilization while advancing automation and enabling effective remote collaboration.
• Ensure operational excellence and standardization by enforcing established processes and continuously improving trial methodologies and automation to enhance efficiency and scalability; drive standardization of deliverables to promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and reuse.

• Bachelor of Engineering or equivalent field of discipline, with specialization in fiber optics, telecommunications, networking or communications system – or equivalent experience is mandatory.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in systems engineering or architecture, with a focus on Ciena optical networking platforms like RLS and coherent optical technology like Wave Logic.
• Minimum 2 years of experience as a technical team leader or manager.
• Minimum 3 years experience supporting optical transport solutions and driving customer technical engagements.
• Ability to work with customers and account teams to understand requirements and priorities.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills facing customers and internal stakeholders.
• Managing and mentoring a diverse set of individual skill sets and personality types to achieve a common goal.

• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to make decisions under pressure.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with customers and other functional organizations like R&D, PLM and Sales.
• Multitasking and adaptability to changing project, priorities and market demands.
• Ability for regular travel to Ciena Ottawa facilities or Customer.

The annual pay range for this position is $141,300 - $225,700 CAD.

Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting our diverse products, industries, and lines of business. Please note that the pay range information provided in…