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Since 1992, Ciena has been driven by a relentless pursuit of network innovation. We believe in a network that grows smarter, more agile, and more responsive every day. This means the majority of your daily, digital interactions in your world, whether streaming video, using your voice A.I, video or voice calls to a friend or loved one – are enabled by Ciena technologies.
Blue Planet, the Software division of Ciena, provides market-leading, vendor neutral, intelligent automation software and specialized professional services to help clients modernize their IT and network operations. Driven by policy and AI-based insights, Blue Planet delivers the closed-loop automation tools needed to align IT and networking processes—critical to facilitating digital transformation and an adaptive network. If you want to be part of the company that delivers these outcomes, then the Blue Planet division of Ciena is the place to be. (Visit www.blueplanet.com.)
Your Role
You will be responsible for the insertion of our solution portfolio and growth of our business by winning transformational business opportunities across communication service provider customers in our ANZ region with particular focus on our most strategic tier 1 customers in the territory. You will establish and nurture key business relationships at all levels and particularly with C-suite stakeholders and carry a sales target which will be retired through your personal sales success and ability to win deals. You will work closely with fulfilment partners where necessary and consult with our mainstream Ciena account team but drive your own sales and engagement strategy to ensure the integrity of the Blue Planet brand is maintained and recognized as a value-based brand to deliver vendor neutral, multi-domain and multi-layer automated service operations to the telco service provider. You will report to the head of the Blue Planet sales & business development team for the international sales region and manage a dispersed virtual team of contributors to secure your objectives. This role involves extensive travel both to customer premises and other Ciena locations at sometimes short notice.
Your Responsibilities
- Achieve annual sales targets and grow Blue Planet’s solution footprint in customer organizations
- Stringently qualify newly identified sales opportunity in both existing and new customers and present your recommendations to the Blueplanet Snr leadership team on request using established tools, templates and methodologies.
- Establish, maintain, and develop critical business relationships with key business, technical and operational stakeholders at all levels including C-suite contacts in your customer organization.
- Develop, document, and execute a business development strategy that promotes Blue Planet capabilities and solutions, aligns to customer strategy, and secures new and continued sales growth through progressive wins.
- Identify and work closely with Blueplanet technical and fulfilment partners to achieve common objectives in your customer base and provide a force multiplier effect to build the opportunity pipeline.
- Work closely to achieve your goals and foster good working relationships with other agencies in Ciena and Blue Planet including product management & engineering, solution architecture, marketing, sales, and commercial management.
- Maintain, grow and document a sales and opportunity pipeline commensurate with sales targets and manage it effectively in Salesforce.com. Provide accurate sales forecasting and reporting on a periodic basis
- Lead a virtual team of contributors in the response to customer RFx documentation or unsolicited proposals and ensure on time quality delivery to promote greatest chance of success.
- Create compelling and differentiated commercial frameworks and pricing strategies in consultation with our sales operations, commercial management & finance organization that align to customer expectations and create ongoing, profitable repeat business opportunity.
- Work closely with our PLM, engineering and delivery organization to ensure a joined-up approach to ensure customer success at all levels.
- Maintain high levels of training and awareness of market developments, customer strategies and Blue Planet portfolio enhancements.
About You:
You will have already demonstrated your ability to succeed in similar organizations and have an impressive track record that illustrates your competence in highly complex, high value transformational projects. You will have a solid technical understanding and an ability to translate the technical into business value propositions that align to your customers vision and strategic aims whilst being able to robustly qualify and identify the difference between real opportunities and technical science projects. You will be able to motivate a team of contributors to work with you to achieve your goals and objectives and above all you will be charismatic, fun to work with and ready to roll your sleeves up to work hard to build on our success so far and have a willingness to take on responsibility and accountability for your own objectives.
Minimum Qualifications
- Excellent written and spoken English with demonstrably sound presentation and communication skills.
- 10/15 Years+ experience in selling complex operational systems and services with evidence of demonstrable success in winning high value deals.
- Sound working knowledge of OSS platforms and solutions including competence in Orchestration, Assurance, and Inventory management.
- Solid foundation of established and referenceable relationship at all levels including C-suite preferred in your designated customer.
- Solid working knowledge of MS office applications with an ability to create basic working commercial models in MS Excel and translate into customer TCO templates
- BSc degree qualification at 2:1 or above in computing science or engineering disciplines is desirable.
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.
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