Service Delivery Manager - Africa, Soweto

Service Delivery Manager– Africa We are seeking a Service Delivery Manager with a strong Network Engineering background to support customer engagements, presales activities, and service delivery development within the MEA Region (Middle East&Africa). The primary focus of the role is service delivery ownership and coordination, ensuring that customer engagements are well‑structured, deliverable, and aligned with business objectives.

Role Overview A solid technical foundation in network engineering is mandatory, as the role requires the ability to understand, challenge, and shape technical solutions, particularly during early customer discussions and presales activities. This is a hands‑on delivery‑oriented role, not a pure Project Manager nor a pure Network Engineer, but a balanced profile combining delivery ownership, technical credibility, and commercial awareness.

How You Will Make An Impact

Own end‑to‑end service delivery alignment between customer expectations and internal delivery capabilities

Coordinate scope definition, planning, execution tracking, and cross‑functional resource engagement

Drive delivery execution within agreed scope while managing risk, cost awareness, and efficiency

Communicate delivery status, risks, and dependencies to customers and internal stakeholders

Contribute delivery and technical input during presales discussions to validate feasibility and delivery approach

Bridge engineering teams, delivery stakeholders, and customer‑facing functions to ensure solution deliverability

Apply network engineering background to challenge and shape proposed technical solutions

Experience– Must Haves

5 + years of total professional experience

Prior experience in service delivery, project management, or service coordination roles

Previous hands‑on experience as a network engineer

Application of network lifecycle activities including design, deployment, migration, and validation

Background in optical transport and networking environments such as DWDM and Layer 0/Layer 1 technologies

Experience interacting with customers, cross‑functional delivery teams, and engineering resources

Ability to operate with delivery ownership in early‑stage engagements where structure may be evolving

Capacity to balance technical discussions, delivery planning, and commercial considerations

Ability to work autonomously in a remote environment with accountability for outcomes

Experience collaborating across time zones and multicultural teams

Nice To Haves

Exposure to RFx response contributions from a service delivery perspective

Experience providing delivery input to presales proposals

Background supporting smaller‑scale engagements with limited technical execution involvement

Equal Opportunity Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

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