11 April 2023

Reporting Line: Head of Software Defined and Virtualization PLM, Ekinops France

Job Context

Software Services are now part of the Network Industry; this is the way to bring new value propositions to Enterprise, through innovative Service Providers. Ekinops has a strong and proven solution in that domain with its Virtualization portfolio. It contains middleware, Virtual Network Functions, Management – Orchestration and multiple additional VNFs from various vendors (the “VNF Stores”). More recently, Ekinops has extended his expertise in that domain with the acquisition of SixSq, offering a “containerized” approach of Network Services and extend our footprint to Edge Computing use cases.

This is a position requiring entrepreneurial spirit, helping the sales force to position the Virtualization product in current and new accounts.  It requires technical aptitude (virtualization, NFV, SDN, Cloud, etc.) and marketing practical understanding (positioning, messaging, objection handling) to effectively position and generate significant revenue in a fast growing market. A strong expectation is the aptitude to define and position solutions in a well-defined market segment.

Reporting directly to the Head of Software Defined Product Management, your primary responsibility will be to identify and qualify the Virtualization Market Segment for Ekinops.  Based on this, the position carries the responsibility for defining the positioning (Value proposition, differentiators, competitive analysis ...), keeping sales collateral and competitive studies up to date, define and deliver the Roadmap with R&D but above all, getting into the field and opening up new accounts and revenue opportunities.  The successful candidate will act as the key evangelist and business expansion driver for this exciting market segment at EKINOPS.

Job Mission

Defining the Network Virtualization Strategy

  • Define and maintain the understanding of Market Segment
  • analyzing Markets & Players
  • Assessing Ekinops capabilities and today foot in the ground
  • Defining use cases and market segment we want to address

Driving R&D development direction

  • Create & maintain the roadmap
  • Write Functional Specifications
  • Have regular synchronization with R&D managers

Advocate Markets and support Sales

  • Define and support Marketing activities (webinars, Launch Plan, content writing ...)
  • Sales training, customer engagement
  • Analyst Relations

Develop and animate an eco-system of 3rd Party VNFs alliances

  • Define the Alliance program
  • Maintain a list of Alliances (Firewalls, SD-WAN, WAN Op, IT ...)
  • Update and develop the certification program, including join marketing effort

Develop and maintain Platform Vendors relations (white box, uCPE)

  • Be the point of contact for vendors (Dell, Lanner, ...)
  • Support sales quotation and customers’ specific demands
  • Stay updated on evolution, market demands, ...

The PLM is committed to support business activities in order to achieve the annual revenue target at the expected level of profitability.

Generic PLM Duties

Sales-facing

  • Be single point of contact for product roadmap & feature requests & product change management
  • Provide product launches and product presentations for Sales
  • Be product and roadmap expert for new projects (RFPs) and critical customer meetings as required
  • Capable to support key customers meeting (vision, direction, ….)

Market-facing

  • Track market statistics including market share and industry trends
  • Build repository of competitor strategies
  • Define marketing requirements and strategic approach to maximize differentiation (MRDs)
  • Track and report on product line margins

R&D-facing

  • Provide product specifications for new products and product evolutions
  • Provide and validate inputs for key product gates
  • Maintain the relation with R&D Product Owner

Profile and skills

PLM & Technical skills

  • 7+ years of software / hardware PLM experience in the Enterprise Networking Environment. Experience in a field facing role is a strong plus (Presales, ...).
  • Proven Knowledge on uCPEs , Routing, Virtualization, SDN / NFV, Network Orchestration, Containers
  • Knowledge in SD-WAN, Networks Analytics and Network Security are strong plus.

Markets Skills

  • Proven Experience in working with Telcos Tiers 1/2/3, Managed Service Providers, System Integrators (as employee, partners, channels …)
  • Excellent written & presentations skills (white paper, slide deck …)
  • Strong Verbal / Evangelist skills, capable to present in front of very large audience (Conferences, events …) and to C-Levels,
  • Strong relationship skills, customers & partner’s intimacy
  • Proven experience in market & pricing strategy
  • Experience working with digital marketing tactics including web and social media

Others

  • Willing to travel up to 30% to support conferences, customer meetings, and collaboration with global sales and marketing teams
  • Strong English speaking and written communication skills (other languages an added asset) with the ability to work with employees of diverse cultural backgrounds
  • Excellent people and management skills to interact with staff, colleagues and cross-functional teams, and third parties
  • Outstanding project management and coordination skills with ability to track simultaneous projects and initiatives
  • Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, results-oriented, collaborative, flexible environment
  • Team player, good leadership
  • An Engineering degree is a must, MBA from top management school is a plus

Package 

  • Entry level
  • Possibility to work remotely
  • Profit sharing program
  • Meal subsidy or Meal voucher

Products

Solutions

Company