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.
We are actively seeking an experienced, driven, and technically strong hands-on leader to play a vital role in advancing our automation-focused test strategies for system-level validation of innovative optical networking solutions. Our solutions are based on innovative technologies aimed at meeting the performance, scalability, reliability, and feature requirements of our diverse global customer base, including Global content providers and Telecom service providers. A successful candidate will provide focused leadership to a Product Verification team in Ottawa and play an important role in driving the R&D deliverables and innovation into test strategies for Optical Networks. This is a full-time role onsite in Ottawa.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Strong customer focus and firm commitment to product excellence and quality.
• Ability to understand customers’ needs, expectations, and perspectives, particularly in relation to Optical Network Designs of Global Content Provider Networks and Telecom Service Providers.
• Solid knowledge of Optical Networking Technologies, primarily OTN Transport & DWDM
• Experience with model-based network management protocols and north bound interfaces (gRPC, Netconf, Rest, SNMP, CLI)
• Experience in test effort estimation, test case planning, and test lab resource planning based on product requirements.
• Proficiency in Test Automation of network devices with the ability to write effective automation scripts using Python, automation frameworks & git-based source code control systems
• Experience with 3rd party traffic generators (Viavi, Ixia , etc) and other lab infrastructure equipment (Attenuators, Optical Switches etc.)
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate in a global multisite team environment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.

EDUCATIONAL AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Optical Communications.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in system testing within the optical networking domain

• Manage staff performance, career development, feedback, mentoring for a team of test engineers
• Engage with product design/release management teams and manage Product Verification deliverables - staffing, prioritization, process, delivery to milestones, issue escalation as required
• Drive Test initiatives, including Software Development in Test, and use of AI in testing to advance product verification quality to expand business impact and overall customer experience
• Collaborate with the Automation Infrastructure Team to meet the test team’s requirements for test software development.
• Collaborate with other departments to ensure success of strategic programs across departments.