Customer Engagement Manager

Ciena; United States; Hybrid; USD 82,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision plans

401(k) with company matching

Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Paid holidays and vacation

Job summary

Ciena, a global leader in high‑speed connectivity, seeks a Customer Engagement Manager to drive delivery success across managed services projects. You will own onboarding, coordinate with customers, partners, and internal teams, and ensure timely delivery and value realization with strong communication at executive levels.

You will lead multiple projects, manage scope, schedule, and resources, and mitigate risks while keeping SLAs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of ICT program/project management experience in managed services of optical, cloud or virtualization delivery projects.
• Strong negotiation, written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Ability to mentor and lead by influence and collaboration.
• Willingness to travel to support customer projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead onboarding of managed service delivery projects from quote reception to service turn-up and monthly performance reporting.
• Drive project scope, schedule, costs, and resources across multiple projects including third-party deliverables.
• Serve as the escalation point and hands-on project manager; prepare executive level communications.
• Coordinate with services, product, supply chain, and sales to ensure customer satisfaction and SLAs.

Skills

Project leadership

Negotiation

Communication

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Risk management

Mentoring by influence

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering

Tools

MS Office

Project management tools

Financial tools

Job description

As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena builds the critical infrastructure powering the AI era. We’re a technology company shaping the future of networking, guided by innovation, integrity, and collaboration. Through development opportunities, meaningful work, and flexibility, Ciena supports growth and well-being—on and off the job. Connect with a career that matters.

How You Will Contribute

Reporting to Senior Manager, Customer Support Operations, as the Customer Engagement Manager you will be responsible for bring the delivery success of the practice. You will drive multiple aspects of customer projects interacting with customers, colleagues, suppliers, and partners. You will be engaged in both solutioning and delivery toward successful customer projects providing value to our clients with excellent customer experience. Our team will benefit from your customer focus, cross‑functional collaboration, attention to detail, business acumen, and professionalism. Drive on boarding Managed Service delivery projects from reception of a quote to turn up of the services and monthly reporting of performance against our goals. Responsible for project scope delivery adhering to and optimizing schedule, costs, and resources. Projects include Ciena, partner, and third‑party deliverables. Act as the counterpart for customer’s program leader to ensure customer satisfaction and be the escalation point for managed service delivery activities. Be the hands‑on‑project manager for multiple projects. Prepare and present executive level project communications project tracking and stakeholder management. Identify, manage, and mitigate project risks. Collaborate with colleagues in Services, product teams, supply‑chain, and sales.

The Must Haves

The successful applicant for this role will have 8+ years of relevant experience working in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field with prior responsibilities in program/project management roles for managed services of optical, cloud or virtualization delivery projects. Strong negotiation skills to work with customers and resource owners. Ability to mentor and lead by influence and collaboration. Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communications skills. Strong quantitative skills. Attention to statement of work details. Customer and partner facing skills. Bring high energy customer‑focus to the organization. Self‑motivated to drive success based on organizational goals. Monitor incident management to ensure timely resolution with SLAs. Provide customers with updates on "hot" or escalated incidents. Coordinate technical support to lead operational issues and customer needs, to ensure service delivery meets customer expectations and SLAs. Manage quality communication with the customer, develop, implement, and monitor processes to increase customer satisfaction. Follow up on open action items timely manner and ensure commitments are met. Oversee the coordination of field engineers in different locations to perform physical maintenance or fix critical issues on equipment. Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, business or equivalent experience. Demonstrated skills in desktop applications as well as project management and financial tools. The ability to travel to support customer projects. Position can be located at a Ciena office or in proximity to a customer/technology hub city in North America.

Assets

Experience with managed services and build‑operate‑transfer projects is a plus. PMP certification is a plus along with virtualization and networking technology certifications. MS or MBA is valuable. Experience with multivendor and software professional services for communication service provider or enterprise customers is preferred. ITIL v4/6 Foundation ITSM Certification. Service Provider experience is highly desirable.

The annual pay range for this position is $82,300 - $131,500 USD #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.

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.