Job Description

We are looking for an experienced R&D Line Manager with 15+ years of experience in telecom software development, cloud-native platforms, and large-scale production environments. The role will lead and develop globally distributed multidisciplinary teams across Product Architecture, Product Security, and L4 Support, driving delivery excellence, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate will bring strong expertise in OAM/FCAPS, 4G/5G Core Networks, Kubernetes, microservices, observability, and distributed systems, along with proven experience delivering scalable and secure carrier-grade products. This individual will provide strong technical and people leadership, manage critical customer escalations and production issues, mentor technical leaders, and drive innovation and continuous improvement. Experience in large-scale customer deployments and cross-functional stakeholder management is essential to align product strategy, engineering execution, and business objectives.

• Lead and develop globally distributed product engineering teams, fostering a high-performance, collaborative, and growth-oriented culture while continuously identifying organizational and execution gaps and driving improvement initiatives.
• Own workforce planning, talent development, performance management, coaching, succession planning, and employee engagement across the organization, ensuring capability gaps are proactively addressed through targeted development programs.
• Drive execution excellence by ensuring predictable delivery, operational effectiveness, and achievement of business, product, and customer commitments, while identifying process bottlenecks and implementing continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency and quality.
• Establish organizational priorities, allocate resources effectively, and balance investments across product development, security, support, and operational needs, continuously assessing areas for optimization and improvement.
• Build strong relationships with customers and stakeholders, ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction and effective management of escalations and critical issues, while leveraging feedback to identify improvement opportunities across products and operations.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, Operations, and Leadership teams to align organizational objectives with product strategy, business goals, and customer requirements, driving cross-functional initiatives to address gaps and enhance organizational effectiveness.
• Enable technical leaders and teams to drive innovation, continuous improvement, and adoption of best practices across architecture, security, and production operations, fostering a culture of operational and engineering excellence.
• Govern operational, quality, and support metrics, driving accountability, risk management, and continuous improvement through data-driven identification of gaps, root-cause analysis, and execution of corrective and preventive actions to ensure reliable, scalable, and secure product delivery.

Must Have

• Engineering degree, Bachelors' / Masters' with 15+ years of experience in Telecom Software Product Development, including 5+ years in leading product engineering organizations and multidisciplinary teams across Engineering, Architecture, Support, Operations, and Security.
• Domain expertise in OAM/FCAPS, 4G/5G Core Networks, Network Functions, Telecom Management Systems, SNMP, and 3GPP standards, with proven experience delivering carrier-grade telecom products.
• Leadership experience managing globally distributed engineering teams, including workforce planning, performance management, talent development, succession planning, organizational design, employee engagement, and building high-performing teams.
• Proven experience driving product delivery, operational excellence, customer escalations, major incident management, RCA, risk management, service quality, and business outcomes in complex telecom or enterprise environments.

Good to Have

• Understanding of cloud-native and modern software platforms, including Kubernetes, OpenShift, Microservices, Distributed Systems, Observability, and large-scale production environments.
• Experience in driving technical strategy and decision-making, including architecture, engineering execution, production operations, and large-scale customer deployments.
• Experience collaborating with Product Management, Engineering, Operations, Customers, and Executive Leadership to align product strategy, organizational priorities, resource investments, and business objectives.

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Our recruitment process

We act inclusively and respect the uniqueness of people. Our employment decisions are made regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to a culture of inclusion built upon our core value of respect.

If you’re interested in this role but don’t meet every listed requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich our teams, and you may be just the right candidate for this or another opportunity.

The length of the recruitment process may vary depending on the specific role's requirements. We strive to ensure a smooth and inclusive experience for all candidates. Discover more about the recruitment process at Nokia.