Chief Information Officer

At Ciena, we are driven by our mission to create a more connected, intelligent, and human digital future. As a global leader in highspeed networking, we build worldclass technology-while nurturing a culture that puts people first. Our teams thrive in an environment that balances innovation, growth, and belonging. Join us and help shape the digital backbone powering the world's most essential networks.

As CIO, become the strategic technology leader who enables Ciena's next era of growth, agility, and differentiated performance. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, this role sets the vision and strategy for all enterprise technology and digital capabilities while partnering closely with R&D, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, Finance, and the Executive Leadership Team.

How You Will Contribute:

* Drive an enterprisewide technology strategy and roadmap that accelerates revenue growth, margin expansion, product velocity, and operational excellence
* Advise the Executive Leadership Team and Board by translating complex technologies into clear business outcomes and return on investment
* Lead global infrastructure strategy and operations across cloud, onpremises, highperformance computing labs, and lowlatency networks supporting a distributed workforce
* Oversee the full enterprise applications portfolio, promoting simplification, user experience, and adoption of productivityenhancing tools including modern AI platforms
* Shape and govern Ciena's nextgeneration enterprise AI strategy, enabling responsible use across engineering, analytics, operations, and customerfacing knowledge systems
* Establish a modern enterprise architecture that supports scale, acquisition integration, data quality, and realtime decision intelligence
* Champion worldclass cybersecurity, zerotrust principles, and compliance across SOX, ISO 27001, GDPR, and global datasovereignty requirements

The Must Haves:

* 15+ years of progressive technology leadership experience with 7+ years as CIO, CTO, or senior IT executive in a global technology or telecommunicationsrelated company
* Expertise leading enterprise IT in engineeringcentric environments with complex R&D lab infrastructure and a large remote workforce
* Deep knowledge across cloud infrastructure, highperformance compute environments, enterprise applications, modern architecture, data platforms, and AI adoption at scale
* Demonstrated ability to influence and engage Csuite and Board stakeholders through business storytelling, financial acumen, and measurable outcomes
* Experience managing large global IT budgets and achieving efficiency gains without compromising performance or security
* Strong vendor negotiation background across hyperscalers, service providers, and enterprise SaaS ecosystems
* Proven success building and leading diverse, highperforming global teams

Nice to Haves:

* Experience within networking, optical systems, semiconductor, or datacenter technology environments
* Background driving enterprisewide digital transformation or modernization initiatives
* Prior leadership overseeing largescale cloud migrations or hybrid/multicloud architectures
* Familiarity with AI governance frameworks and responsibleAI operating models
* Exposure to M&Arelated technology integration and enterprisearchitecture rationalization
* Master's degree or MBA

Not ready to apply? Join our Talent Community to get relevant job alerts straight to your inbox.

At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.