The Requirements

The ideal candidate will have experience with BOTH network/cloud technology AND product marketing/product management. However, this also could be an opportunity for a Network/Cloud Architect (or similar) with a flair for articulating value propositions to pursue a new career path.

To be a good fit for the Technical Marketing Director, Cloud opportunity you should have:

• A Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field required; a master's is preferred.
• Demonstrated expertise in network technology requirements for cloud environments, and deep understanding of cloud IT techniques and applications in both hardware and software.
• Experience architecting cloud solutions for enterprise IT customers.
• Solid leadership experience in a progression of product marketing and product management positions.
• Experience creating business plans, meeting revenue and profitability goals, leading multiple projects and programs simultaneously.
• The ability to:
  • Develop a customer centric strategy and translate that strategy into business results with market leading products.
  • Work broadly across the customer landscape to truly understand the vision of the customer.
  • Demonstrate short and long term impact on business performance through a combination of strategic and tactical initiatives.
  • Be agile and solutions-focused while putting in place robust processes to ensure better planning, alignment and management of resources and decisions.
• Demonstrated analytical skills including an in-depth understanding of the complete product development process from conceptual development to end-of-life cycle, inclusive of the functional interfaces.
• Evidence of the ability to successfully leading product marketing and management functions in a fast-paced, hands-on, high energy environment, and consistently align actions with business priorities.
• Relevant experience and proven ability to lead all aspects of product marketing and management from concept through launch to end of life, preferably in the Cloud market.

Just as important as your experience and skills will be the following characteristics and competencies:

• Strong cross-functional leadership skills and an excellent track record of collaboration.
• An understanding of the interrelationship of individual and organizational excellence, and their contribution to leadership.
• Proactive change agent and problem solver.
• Ability to work effectively with multiple levels of management.
• The ability to:
  • Build and lead teams, as well as to contribute as a team player.
  • Organize activities and lead others in accomplishing goals and objectives.
  • React quickly to complex situations and apply problem-solving skills.
  • Work with employees, customers and outside organizations in a professional manner.
• Personal drive, passion, and enthusiasm.

Preferred but not required:

• A diverse product background that includes hardware, software and/or systems product marketing experience in the area of Cloud applications.
• Experience directly interfacing with large global enterprise customers to determine product needs.
• Experience in both start-up and large organizations.

You might be based in our corporate headquarters in Irvine, California, or near concentrations of potential customers in the cloud space. However, the right skillset is more important to us than location. You might be based anywhere in the U.S. as long as you are near a major airport. You'll need to be willing and able to travel, sometimes internationally, about 30% of the time.

Role Overview

Reporting to the Vice President/General Manager, Host Solutions, you will join a team that also includes Technical Marketing Directors in Financials and Security. We are adding this role to take advantage of opportunities in the growing cloud space. You will be responsible for the product strategy and direction for the Cloud market segment. Solutions will encompass hardware, software, services, support, and the extended ecosystem of Solarflare partners in this market.

Providing overall business management of the Cloud portfolio, your mission will be to lead the technical marketing efforts in this market to create and drive the product requirements for the products and associated solutions, and to execute and deliver solutions with high quality and consistency in alignment with sales and engineering.

You'll interact directly with end customers to understand their needs and position our existing products to help them achieve their goals. With the knowledge you'll gain you also will work with Engineering, providing the insight they need to enhance existing and develop new products.

Pivotal to your success will be your ability to identify customer needs, clarify competitive differentiation of products/solutions and overall business management of the Cloud portfolio. You will drive customer satisfaction through early and pervasive engagement with customers through the entire product lifecycle. You'll be responsible for the overall management and success of the portfolio in the marketplace as measured by market share, revenue and recognized innovation. Leading the success of the portfolio will require significant cross- functional input, alignment and execution across Marketing, Sales, Engineering and Services.

For example, you might recognize that there are many potential customers who would benefit from a solution that is cost sensitive, scalable, highly responsive, resilient to attacks, and leverage open source Linux technologies. From there you would create a target profile to share with Sale professionals in different geographies.

Once the Sales Representatives identify companies in their territory that match the profile, you'll work with them to develop presentations and other supporting materials. Typically Sales takes it from there, although you may continue to provide support as needed. When we're ready for fulfillment, we work through distributors and VARs.

Note: this is a high level overview of the role. To take a deeper dive into the details, see the Role Specifics tab.

Pictured: the Flareon Ultra SFN7142Q Dual-Port 40GbE QSFP+ PCIe 3.0 Server I/O Adapter delivers industry-leading message rates with lowest latency and jitter over 40GbE Ethernet. Low CPU utilization and high performance maximize multi-core CPU efficiency, and 40GbE technology meets the escalating requirements of high-bandwidth applications.

Role Specifics

As Technical Marketing Director, Cloud, you will:

• Develop and manage robust product roadmaps (hardware and software) that clearly articulate and align product development priorities with Solarflare's business objectives.
• Develop a comprehensive understanding of Solarflare's target market (specifically Cloud solutions) and the customer needs in this segment. You'll work with others within and outside of the organization to calibrate their competitive positioning relative to these needs and opportunities.
• Own the product roadmap for Cloud (primarily driver, software, and AppFlex applications), and maintain the company's strategic product plan and vision by working closely with senior management, product marketing, engineering, sales, customer support and finance.
• Manage the entire product life cycle, including planning, the ongoing customer request process, updates/upgrades, end of life, etc. You'll take accountability for the critical tradeoff decisions between functionality, resources and delivery timeframes.
• Identify product directions based on comprehensive competitive benchmarking, develop and execute effective marketing strategies and plans.
• Provide input in establishing the vision and development of Solarflare's Cloud strategy while partnering with operations and support in the development of accurate forecasts and product development initiatives.
• Monitor industry market trends and competitors and providing intelligence on the competitive landscape and key trends occurring in the industry.
• Play a strong and active role on the leadership team, contributing to all aspects of strategy formation, product requirements definition and business development strategies.
• Create a customer centric vision for the product portfolio.
• Define technology and product roadmaps, detailed product specifications and competitive differentiation for both hardware and software products.
• Optimize the product portfolio, determine core products, product migration and consolidation priorities and cross-product initiatives including product integration.
• Define the customer experience and drive implementation of that experience throughout the development cycle.
• Develop competitive advantage through ongoing research and study of the market while being able to implement a process to help manage the "funnel" of ideas (applying science to the art of innovation).
• Maintain up to date competitive roadmaps and product trends.
• Drive cross-functional alignment through improved business planning to ensure market, product and development priorities are understood and resources aligned.

Note: this is a detailed description of the role. To get the 30,000 foot view, see the Role Overview tab.

Pictured: SolarSecure^TM is the first distributed, active security solution that is implemented within network servers, the prime targets of cyber attacks. SolarSecure equips servers to precisely record, capture, filter and block malicious traffic before it penetrates the server.

Why Solarflare

Build something new -- with server and data center solutions prominent in our portfolio, we've been in the cloud space for some time. By bringing a new level of focus and technological savvy, however, you can help ensure we're approaching this market right, and "pour on the gas" to drive growth.

Game changing innovations -- we are just introducing innovations that directly address customer's pain points, which will make it easy for you to communicate value propositions and competitive differentiators. These aren't just bells and whistles, but new ways of optimizing OS, software, and hardware interaction to make measurable differences in performance and security. Customer response has been very positive, and demand is just heating up.

Professional development -- right now you may be designing IT architecture for the cloud, but you have a nagging feeling that there is a better way to do it. At Solarflare you will be at the forefront of discovering those better ways, working with some of the smartest people in the industry at a growing industry leader.

Growth environment -- you'll find a positive, high-energy atmosphere here. We are exploring new and better solutions, which are driving growth. Assuming we execute, there will be both the satisfying feeling of accomplishment and financial rewards. You'll showcase your ability to deliver results on both the technology and business fronts, and your success in this role could set you up to pursue multiple career paths within Solarflare.

Quality & Environmental Policies -- Solarflare has received ISO certification for both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 International Standards from the Certification Body of TÜV SÜD America Inc., having successfully completed audits at its Irvine, California headquarters and Cambridge, UK R&D facility. The certification of these ISO International Standards supports our commitment to offering products and services that are safe, reliable and of good quality. Adherence to these globally recognized and accepted standards improves company performance by reducing costs, minimizing environmental impact, increasing productivity and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Excellent compensation -- at Solarflare you'll enjoy a competitive salary and a comprehensive slate of benefits including medical, dental and vision insurances, paid time off, a 401(k), stock options and more.

Pictured: wherever speed, reliability, and security count, Solarflare offers innovative, comprehensive 10G Ethernet solutions. You will work with end users to develop solutions in in cloud networking and virtualization for financial services, critical operations, research & development, and more.

Keys to Success

To excel in this role you will need the "classical" marketing skills, such as the ability to articulate our value proposition and develop compelling sales tools. At the same time, technology knowledge will be even more important. We're looking for a professional with a "CTO" profile, who is able to understand business problems, reconstitute them for engineering, and engage in engineering dialogue to develop solutions.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in building and driving well-respected product strategies in this market that have had an immediate and sustainable impact on business results. You'll need the ability to function at a strategic level with the ability to grasp details quickly and be "hands on" in the area of tactical execution. Chances are you will work remotely, so you will need to be a self-starter, able to "fill your own in basket."

In addition, in order to be an outstanding Technical Marketing Director, Cloud, you will:

• Be a leader who creates loyalty, trust and following. One who can energize people and teams, and make cross-functional cooperation happen. This individual must be highly respected by both subordinates and superiors.
• Bring a combination of personality traits -- collaborative, honesty, integrity, intensity and passion -- necessary to blend with the rest of the executive management team.
• Challenge the team/organization while holding them accountable for their commitments.
• Possess a compelling leadership style that includes exceptional people management skills, program management, business and technology expertise with a style that inspires confidence in Solarflare and its products.
• Employ a hands-on and entrepreneurial style and a desire to become personally involved in all elements of managing your functional responsibility. You also should be someone who seeks to develop like-minded senior Directors with similar capabilities.
• Combine intellect and an executive presence to become a true business partner across the corporate and field functions, a partner capable of contributing to broader business conversations beyond your functional expertise.
• Solicit the involvement of others to build a sense of ownership. Must have the confidence to act quickly and decisively when the market requires such agility.

About Solarflare

Solarflare is the leading provider of application-intelligent networking I/O software and hardware that accelerate, monitor and secure network data. Our products are utilized in many of the most demanding scale-out compute environments in the world.

Our unique combination of software and hardware expertise sets us apart in the industry. A perfect example of this is our recently introduced series of Flareon server I/O adapters. These 10/40GbE adapters feature AppFlex software, which allows users to select multiple network services to run on the Flareon platform within servers. Services such as the instrumentation and monitoring of network performance, precision time synchronization with hardware time stamping, the securing of critical network data, as well as application acceleration.

Solarflare offers innovative, comprehensive 10G Ethernet solutions in a wide range of applications and industries including cloud networking and virtualization, financial services, high-performance computing, and storage. Our comprehensive portfolio of 10GbE server adapters and application acceleration middleware products provides customers with industry-leading solutions.

Solarflare's R&D site is based in Cambridge, UK and our headquarters is in Irvine, California. Solarflare is venture-capital backed and the remuneration package includes share options for all employees.