Consultant, CMS Business Development

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.

Location: Remote, US (Preferred CO, TX, IL, GA)

The CMS Business Development Consultant is responsible for consulting and partnering with named Service Providers and Network Operators in the US to drive long-term growth for both Ciena and our Service Provider partners. This position combines business development, product consulting and partnership to perform a critical shared overlay function working in collaboration with Ciena Account teams. The role is focused on strengthening partnerships, developing new business opportunities, launching new Carrier Managed Services and accelerating sales performance with our partner community. To perform exceptionally well in this role, the Consultant will need: an outcome oriented problem solving mindset, emotional intelligence to align internal and external stakeholders and superior communication skills.

How Will You Contribute:

Business Development

• Develop and launch new services with Service Provider Partners.
• Drive partner orders to target and YoY Growth.
• Leverage consultancy approach to provide service creation and monetization support into target service provider partners.
• Lead business development and thought leadership initiatives to drive new opportunities and evolve existing services with our partner executive leadership teams.
• Identify target market segments, quantify market opportunity, assess the competitive landscape to engage with an insight-based selling approach. Proactively takes steps to capitalize on managed service opportunities presented by market opportunity.
• Deliver strategic consulting and business case development to execute the existing service evolution and new service creation process to launch new Ciena powered Carrier Managed Services.
• Develop market assessments and TCO/ROI business cases to justify investment. Lead the feasibility and business case assessments.

Partnership Management

• Engage with key partner sales and marketing executives to create and maintain strong relationships with our partners.
• Developing personalized strategic business plans for each partner. Conduct annual business planning, and quarterly reviews with partner liaisons to measure and drive revenue growth. 
• Engage Senior Sales Leadership and define strategy annually to grow Monthly Recurring Revenue of Ciena Powered Carrier Managed Services.
• Prioritize resources, OPEX and market development fund investment to achieve short and long-term sales growth.
• Align and engage internal Ciena resources to build out and drive a long-term managed services strategy. Communicate back to account management team and sales VP's key information that will help drive stronger corporate relationships with the partner and Ciena.

Sales Enablement

• Develop a sales training and enablement strategy for multiple partners and customers that is non-technical and focused on evangelizing Ciena solutions that are built on the partners service platform(s).
• Develop content and lead sales training events to help relevant Direct and Indirect Sales teams grow Monthly Recurring Revenue.
• Monitor and report progress against business targets throughout the duration of engagements.

The Must Haves:

• Must have at least 8 years' experience working in or with Telecommunication Service Providers in Sales, Channel Sales, Business Development, Product Management or Consulting.
• Experience in the Telecommunications eco-system including Global Carriers, Tier 1 Operators, Tier 2 Operators, Regional Service Providers, MSOs, Submarine Operators, Indirect channel, DC Operators and Cloud Providers.
• Experience with Service Provider/Network Operator Product Development Lifecycle and the requirements to develop, launch, operationalize, and enable the GTM of a new carrier managed service.
• Experience with channel programs, channel policies and channel management.
• Skilled in all aspects of consultative sales and business development. End to end including strategy development, executive discussions, relationship development, market dynamics assessment, service(s) definition with monetization models, opportunity qualification and development, brokering direct field sales connections, assistance with closure, and improving partner satisfaction.
• Must be proactive, energetic, demonstrates initiative & results oriented. Commitment to customer centricity, with a strong capability to advocate on behalf of customer needs and pain points.
• Must have strong collaboration skills to align cross-functional internal and external teams towards partner outcomes.
• Able to influence as a change agent capable of leading organizational transformations by overcoming internal and external barriers to success.
• Strong business acumen and deep telecommunications managed services market knowledge.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills with extensive experience presenting a broad range of materials and storytelling to influence stakeholders including C suite.
• Adept at collaborating with key stakeholders, managing conflict, resolving issues and escalating where appropriate to deliver a best-in-class partnership experience.
• Experience using financials models to translate the solution benefits into financial business case justification for customer transformation.  
• Effective interpersonal communications, emotional intelligence, active listening, and collaboration skills.

Assets:

• Business degree or undergraduate degree in Engineering, Computer Science or Information Technology with MBA or equivalent relevant work and leadership experience. 
• Preferred project management certification.
• Preferred relevant certifications on optical transport (L1), Carrier Ethernet (L2), IP (L3), Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization. 

The annual total target compensation pay range for this position is 195,500 - $323,000.  This includes both base and incentive compensation.

#LI-WH1

#LI-Remote

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 this posting pertains specifically to the primary location, which is the top location listed in case multiple locations are available.

Non-Sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus, while Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission. In addition to competitive compensation, Ciena offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time. We also comply with all applicable laws regarding Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.

Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community to get relevant job alerts straight to your inbox.

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.