Lead, Product Manager

Ciena is committed to our people-first philosophy. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a personalized and flexible work environment that empowers an individual’s passions, growth, wellbeing and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact. Achieve your ideal career at the forefront of innovation with Ciena. We know the importance of life outside of work, which is why our employees enjoy flexible paid time off and the freedom of working remotely. Ciena empowers our teams with competitive salaries and incentives, community volunteer programs, professional development resources, and support for our mental and physical health—all experienced within a diverse and inclusive culture. To put it simply, we’re a technology company driven by our humanity. We empower our Digital product teams to solve business problems in ways that our customers love, yet work for our business. Our product teams are cross-functional and durable, generally comprised of a product manager, an engineering lead, and several engineers. The product manager is accountable for ensuring the solution is both valuable and viable and serve as the voice of the business to guide Digital product development teams in building software capabilities with the highest business and customer impact. The product manager represents business needs and priorities, prioritizes and manages the product backlog, and incorporates feedback from business collaborators to guide continuous product improvement. The product manager must contribute to his/her product team a solid knowledge of the business processes and needs. The product manager must also contribute to the product team a deep knowledge of our users and customers, and the data about how our users engage with our Digital products. Finally, the product manager is expected to track industry trends and the competitive landscape as they pertain to her product. We look for product managers that understand that consistent innovation is the result of each member of the product team contributing their passion and their ideas. The product manager must collaborate closely with his/her Digital product team to discover effective solutions, and then work together to deliver those solutions to the supply chain team. While we empower our Digital product teams to figure out the best solutions to the problems that need to be solved, we also hold those teams accountable to the results. We look for product managers that are not afraid of signing up for results, even when this means they have to work through others to achieve the necessary results. The Senior Lead, Product Manager will report to the Senior Director Digital Transformation. Key Areas of Responsibility The Senior Lead, Product Manager performs a wide range of duties including, but not limited to the following: Product Discovery Building business cases and ROI calculations by collaborating with key stakeholders. Identifying potential solutions through validation, learning, interviewing, and prototyping Performing gap analyses through interviews and focus groups to determine areas that need to be addressed based on current versus future state. Validating opportunity value assessments. Vision, Strategy and Roadmap Development Responsible to set the vision and strategy for the product to align with Business objectives Develop a product roadmap to ensure the product is meeting business needs and objectives Collaborates with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to define product features and roadmap and business case analyses to quantify the cost savings or productivity opportunity Executes approved business transformation opportunities to support the organization’s strategic direction Act as the voice of the customer to guide all stages of software development, including user story development, sprint planning, and prioritization of the product backlog. Develop positive relationships and regularly connect with product stakeholders and customers to craft the product strategy and surface and prioritize needs. Understand business and end-user needs, including the business process steps; identify and prioritize features to be delivered to meet those needs. Set expectations with business stakeholders for delivery of new capabilities, features, and functionalities. Lead Planning, and life cycle management efforts for Product Acts as a trusted advisor, works in a highly collaborative team environment, and can “connect the dots”. Communication Own the sprint review meeting to present the output from the sprint to key stakeholders. Ability to communicate the business outcome, plans, governance structures, and resources required for execution. Communicates with users, stakeholders and leadership to gain support and solicit input for the product Manage and Deliver the Product Roadmap Collaborates with stakeholders, leaders, partners and customers in processes, tools, and best practices to deliver high impact results. Work with business stakeholders and product team to develop and document processes and user stories. Participate in sprint planning to determine the team’s objectives for the upcoming sprint. Prioritize and maintain the product backlog. Participate in agile ceremonies such as stand-ups, story refinements, and team retrospectives; ensure the team has a clear understanding of priorities and next steps. Analyze feedback from sprint reviews, and other data such as end user feedback and operational metrics, to identify and understand product needs. Work with the development team to build acceptance criteria and definitions of failures and done. Assist the team on the development of feature tests, test cases, and regression tests. Ability to influence teammates, as well as colleagues, stakeholders, and key executives, through use of data and logic. Change Management for the Product Work with change management leads to collaborate with business stakeholders to create or contribute to change enablement strategies and plans, including training and communications to impacted audience throughout the program. Assist in conducting effective change impact assessments, readiness assessments, and stakeholder analysis. Assist in delivering change management plans. Education and/or Experience Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in related field from a four-year college or university; or Equivalent combination of education and experience Required Qualifications 7-10 years working on technology-powered products as either a product manager, product designer, engineer, data analyst, data scientist, or user researcher Demonstrated understanding of the techniques and methods of modern product discovery and product delivery.. Demonstrated ability to learn multiple functional areas of business – engineering, design, finance, sales, or marketing. Demonstrated ability to figure out solutions to hard problems with many constraints, using sound judgement to assess risks, and to lay out your argument in a well-structured, data-informed, written narrative. Proven ability to engage with engineers, designers, and company leaders in a constructive and collaborative relationship. Experience in supply chain planning operations. Agile delivery methodology experience Ability to understand sophisticated business problems and identify and interpret business needs. Ability to articulate business strategy into a process and required capabilities. Proven facilitation and influencing skills to drive decision making among stakeholders with diverse perspectives and priorities. Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information in a condensed manner to various stakeholders verbally and in writing. Strong problem solving and analytical skills. Ability to manage competing priorities and demonstrate adaptability in meeting prioritized deadlines And a minimum 5 years of experience of direct leadership and/or cross functional team leadership. Preferred Qualifications Kinaxis planning technology or similar technology experience. Master’s degree Demonstrated ability to teach and mentor team members and other professionals Business operations design and analysis Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise wide, resource intensive, and highly complex initiatives Ability to work effectively with and support the needs of project team members, the IT PMO, and business stakeholders A relationship builder able to team effectively with others and build relationships at all levels of the organization Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate with coworkers of all levels Experience using software design support tools and productivity suites such as Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Office, and Lucid Charts, Jira We know that innovation thrives on product teams where diverse points of view come together to solve hard problems in ways that are just now possible. We explicitly seek people that bring diverse life experiences, diverse educational backgrounds, diverse cultures, and diverse work experiences. #LI-FH #LI-Remote 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.