Senior Manager, Network Solutions Engineering/ Senior Manager, Optical Telecom Engineering

Senior Manager, Network Solutions Engineering

Location: DC/VA/MD. Duration: Full-Time

What Will You Do in Your Role?

We are seeking a Senior Manager to join our team, leading a highly skilled group of Network Solutions Engineers. This team is focused on expanding our successful consulting services practice, working on customizing products and providing subject matter expertise across the national security, defense, and civilian sectors. The role offers significant growth opportunities, and the ideal candidate will have a strong technical background, proven leadership capabilities, and knowledge of government processes and practices.

Ideal Candidate Characteristics:

• 15 years of experience in the optical telecom space.
• Active secret clearance (minimum requirement).
• Proven experience working with DoD/National Security customers.
• Ideally available to start mid-late January timeframe.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a 12-person and growing team of on-site engineers.
• Must have a problem-solving mindset to handle both technical and people-related challenges.
• Reside in the DC/Baltimore area and willing to visit customer sites once or twice a month.

Your Role

As a Senior Manager, you will lead the day-to-day operations of the Network Solutions Engineers, overseeing technical and administrative functions. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including Program Management, Sales, Contracts, and external stakeholders. You will serve as a key point of contact for our customers, ensuring efficient communication and problem resolution.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operations of the Network Solutions Engineers team, managing both technical and administrative aspects.
• Ensure the team's technical skills and career development paths align with organizational goals, providing regular feedback and support.
• Manage the financial aspects of active contracts, including tracking burn rates, revenue projections, funding alignment, and utilization.
• Collaborate with sales teams to develop, write, and review Statements of Work (SOWs) to ensure proper project scoping and alignment with customer expectations.
• Act as the technical liaison to resolve deployment issues and remove roadblocks to ensure timely project completion.
• Present key metrics, business cases, and skillset updates to senior management and executives.
• Work with external stakeholders to ensure contract performance meets expectations and to discuss solutions for future growth, network expansion, and cost-saving initiatives while maintaining optimal network functionality.
• Support business development efforts to expand services, including increasing headcount and identifying new opportunities in collaboration with sales and account teams.
• Oversee the lifecycle of projects, ranging from long-term, multi-year engagements to one-time consulting efforts.
• Serve as a technical liaison for internal teams such as Sales Engineers, deployment teams, and PMO.
• Work with the learning department to define and implement focused training solutions for the engineering team.
• Assist in recruiting efforts, screening candidates for future opportunities, and ensuring technical expertise matches project requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Active security clearance (minimum Secret required).
• 15 years of experience in optical telecom or related technical fields.
• Proven leadership experience managing a growing team of on-site engineers.
• Strong experience with DoD/National Security customer base.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office products (Word, PowerPoint, Visio, Excel, Teams, etc.).
• Security+ or any equivalent DoD 8570 (IAT Level II or higher) certification.
• Hands-on experience with Layer-0, Layer-1, Layer-2 technologies.
• Strong understanding of SONET, DWDM, ROADM, and other (n)OADM configurations, architecture, provisioning, and implementation.
• Understanding of Carrier Ethernet architecture and its provisioning and implementation.
• Ability to produce technical documentation, including whitepapers, network diagrams, and operational procedures.
• Strong communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
• Self-starter, organized, and able to work independently with minimal direction.
• Ability to travel up to 25% for customer site visits (primarily within the DC/Baltimore area).

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with the product family.
• Experience in project management, preferably with a certification (Project+, ITIL, Scrum, Agile, etc.).
• Previous experience within the telecommunications industry, working with equipment vendors or service providers.