Director Sales Engineer

The Director of Sales Engineering will manage a Sales Engineering team that works closely with the Sales Managers and Account Executives. The Director should be skilled at directing and coordinating the tactical activities of the Sales Engineers who are responsible for supporting Lightpaths product offerings. The Director plays an active role in specifying requirements, developing, and implementing the training curriculum for the Sales Engineers and Account Executives. The Director is tasked with quantifiable assessments to expand the productivity and capabilities of the Sales Engineers in their region and is charged with interfacing with the local sales management to aid in the facilitation of closing deals, addressing local issues and providing a value-add above and beyond the management of the local Sales Engineer. This includes working with internal business units. The Director will act as an escalation point for technical questions and issues elevated from the local Sales Engineer. The Director also acts as subject matter expert (SME) and is available to travel for customer appointments, fostering company relationships and support the technical development of the market and region.

• Ensure all Sales Engineers possess the knowledge which will allow Lightpath to serve customers and prospects. Introduce the formal role of an SME for certain offerings. Create a formal repository of knowledge to allow Sales Engineersto be self-sufficient.
• Clearly define the role of the Sales Engineerand ensure all team members understand that role and comply with the requirements. Create measurement system to assess compliance. Focus on quality in addition to quantity of output.
• Identify, implement, and gain access to systems and tools to support the Sales Engineeringteam in their job function. Examples include job aides and basic tools for mapping and design.
• Support the sales process with detailed technical knowledge of the Lightpath product line and Network.
• Coordinate all technical support requests and escalations with the VP of Sales Engineering and other Directors of Technical Services.
• Ensure that Sales Engineers capture all technical requirements linked to an opportunity and generate the associated technical and business proposal with the sales team for presentation to the customer.
• Ensure Sales Engineers create effective and comprehensive system designs to present to upper management and engineers of client companies while working closely with engineering to satisfy customer's technical needs.
• Become the Subject Matter Expert (SME) on all current and future products and services. Introduce a formal process to guide the Sales Engineerteam on working with new products/offerings.
• Create a plan for ongoing training and technical certifications to ensure knowledge does not become obsolete.
• Develop and lead regional technology training sessions.
• Participate in installation/hand-off post-sale meetings to ensure a smooth transition between internal groups.
• Create a feedback loop to Product and Engineering groups.

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Sciences or Engineering preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years' experience in the data/telecommunications industry with proficiency and experience in Data Communications WAN and LAN operations and design, transmission, data products, and customer premise equipment.
• 2+ years' experience leading and motivating remote teams.
• Excellent analytical, presentation, communication, and negotiation skills.
• An ability to work closely with Sales VPs, Sales Directors, and Sales Managers with proven knowledge of the sales cycle.
• Ability to articulate highly technical information to a non-technical staff and customer.
• Strong skills in organizational development.
• Intimate familiarity with the data market and data products offered by competing carriers.
• Entrepreneurship is required to be able to think out of the box to assist customers from a design and product and sales growth perspective.
• High degree of knowledge of Fiber Optic characteristics, such as impact of dB loss and latency.
• Strong knowledge of general industry networking technologies such as IP, MPLS, Ethernet and DWDM.
• Working knowledge of Carrier Ethernet Technologies including MEF 9 & 14 standards; VLANS, Q-in-Q, Data Link Layer Tunneling, RSTP, G.8032, Y.1731.
• Knowledge of IP Routing protocols such as BGP and Routed Protocols, including IPv4 and IPv6.
• Working knowledge of Hosted and Premise based VoIP systems that include Cisco Call manager.