FountainBlue

Senior Competitive Consultant, based in Silicon Valley

Develops and maintains knowledge of emerging markets and competitive threats for Company and its partners for the purpose of providing consultative guidance to the Company's Product Management and Product Marketing teams, as well as the Company overall on strategies to participate in these markets and overcome these competitive threats.

• The Senior Competitive Consultant is a ‘go to’ person globally within the Company for the assigned area(s) of competitive expertise. This means maintaining an ‘expert’ level (deep and wide) understanding of the competitive marketplace (products, technology, marketing messaging & sales tactics) with the objective of giving competitive advantages that will generate more business.
• In support of the Company's product launches, the Senior Competitive Consultant is involved in evaluating the requirements for competitive deliverables. In turn, the Senior Competitive Consultant develops those deliverables consistent with the overall positioning provided by corporate Product Marketing and Product Management teams.
• As competitors make announcements, the senior competitive consultant must provide timely analyses. The objective of these analyses is to help the sales organization position the Company's offerings successfully in the market while providing Product Management and Product Marketing with valuable insights into the competitive offerings and strategies.
• Provide ongoing competitive analysis support to: (a) second level field personnel such as field Product Managers, (b) HQ teams such as Product Marketing, Product Management, and CTO/Strategy Team, and (c) the Company's corporate communications team.

Job Functions.  

1. Primary research and understanding is the core component of this job. This includes the following 4 core methods: (a) reading and watching all forms of publications & analyst reports from the marketplace (including our competitors) on a daily basis, and (b) getting input from the Company sales force and new hires on a regular basis, (c) building and maintaining a web of contacts within the industry (e.g. industry analysts, technology partners, channels, etc.) that can provide ongoing external competitive insight, and (d) attending those industry events where the competitions message can be seen and heard first hand.
2. When external competitive announcement(s) are made, provide the Company with (a) a Quick Take Analysis to be sent to the field within 24-48 hours, and, if needed (b) follow up with a more in depth analysis (if needed) within 7 to 10 days. Analyses normally include one or more of: competitive matrices, detailed analysis and high level sales knockoffs.
3. In preparation for new the Company's product and services/solutions announcements, support product marketing with competitive insight and messaging to support their specific product launches. Also spin off and provide competitive materials to the Company's education and channel organizations.
4. Provide research support (and advice) for the creation of product marketing business plans (in support of phase review).
5. Be a conduit of FUD information from the field (and the industry) into product marketing and product management. Facilitate FUD responses to the second level field support personnel within the Company.

Qualifications

• 15+ successful years of experience in a field sales support (or closely related) role.
• The candidate must have excellent written and oral communications skills. In general, the candidate must have a strong research acumen and analytical skills at a technical level and be comfortable doing ‘detective’ work on a daily basis. The candidate must also be able to complete deliverables with hard deadlines while producing high quality, impactful analysis in a collaborative environment for an the Company and Partner Internal audience.
• This position requires competitive technology analysis and positioning skills in the areas of virtualization and tiered storage, storage management and replication offerings, as well as comprehensive overall competitive vendor coverage. Market and vendor coverage requires technical knowledge as well as familiarity with the strategies and the tactics of each vendor. Competitive coverage responsibilities may be changed as needed. It may be required that the candidate learns and supports new storage markets, technologies and competitors as changes occur in the storage market.
• Members of the Company's Global Competitive Marketing team should expect to travel, including both domestic and international travel, at least 40% of the time. Some travel may extend beyond a week (over weekends) and as long as two weeks consecutively in a single travel itinerary.

Network Engineering Manager, Santa Clara, CA

Responsible for the global enterprise LAN/WAN network and network security architectures and technologies, ensuring a cost-effective and efficient infrastructure that supports the applications and processes essential to business units and departmental operations.

Manage a team of highly skilled network engineers and maintain close relationships with other IT departments in providing engineering support. In conjunction with the Network Operations group, troubleshoot and resolve network related problems in order to minimize client productivity loss caused by technical outages.

Ensure compliance with budget, productivity, and quality objectives within the Network Engineering organization. Must have a thorough knowledge of networking components, configurations, and emerging technologies, including their interrelationship with existing network infrastructure. Strong verbal and written communication and planning skills are required as well as a demonstrated ability to quickly learn new technology and solve complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Manage the daily activities of the network engineering team in core network infrastructure planning and design to ensure consistent delivery of results based on overall organizational objectives
• Provide leadership and work guidance as well as problem resolution of complex problems to less experienced personnel
• Evaluate new and evolving technology, which enhance process efficiency, reduce cost and/or enhance customer and/or user satisfaction, for applicability and impact on operational goals
• Recommend data, voice, or video network investment decisions to management based on results of independent assessment of current and future network performance, stability, and network management issues
• Perform cost analyses and vendor comparisons to ensure cost-effective and efficient operations; measure feasibility of various approaches, make recommendations as appropriate
• Maintain technical knowledge and stay abreast of technical advancements in primary functional areas of responsibility
• Assess and manage training needs of team members to assist in their professional development
• Coach and mentor talented workforce to improve performance and foster career growth

Hard Skills:

• Minimum of 8 years in the Network and Security Technology fields with specific experience in designing and delivering LAN, WAN, MAN and Data Center/Cloud networking solutions and in the management or supervision of Network Engineering teams.
• In depth knowledge of TCP/IP, Routing, Switching, VPN, Load Balancing and Firewalls as well as security best practices.
• Technical writing and analytical experience in debugging and diagnosing complex network issues and reporting on prognosis and or break/fix specifics.
• Extensive experience with Cisco routers, switches, firewalls, and SolarWinds Orion.

Soft Skills:

• Strong Leadership, management skills and work ethic.
• Self-starting with the ability to learn on the fly and respond to network/security issues with a high sense of urgency and ownership while understanding how they affect the bigger picture.
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to translate complex technological issues across skill sets and act as a liaison between teams.
• Ability to define measurable goals for self and team and achieve these goals on a quarterly and annual basis.
• Proven ability to mentor junior staff and retain highly specialized talent within the Network Engineering team.

Experience

•   Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, management information systems, or related field preferred

•   Minimum of 8 years experience in a related discipline

•   4 + years related managerial experience

•   Broad knowledge of IP network technologies

•   Knowledge and working experience in layer 3 routing protocols - RIP/ EIGRP/ OSPF and BGP

•   Demonstrated competency in developing efficient and effective solutions to diverse and complex business problems

Certifications

Highly desirable Cisco certifications for this position include the following:

•   Cisco Certified Architect

•   Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)

•   Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE)

•   CCIE Routing & Switching

•   CCIE Security

•   CCIE Voice

•   CCIE Wireless

Other Cisco certifications for this position may include the following:

•   Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)

•   Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP)

•   Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

•   CCNP Voice

•   CCNP Wireless

•   Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

If you meet all the qualifications above and are interested in this position, complete the adjacent form and e-mail your resume to recruiting@FountainBlue.biz.