Current Searches

Have you been successful as a key employee in business development and engineering for several wireless startups?    Perhaps you’ve been fortunate to have your company go IPO that made you enough dough to become a VC?  Like most, you made some dough on being acquired, but are not quite in the Trump or Gates realm.  You like taking the reins, rolling up your sleeves in wearing multiple hats, can combine your high level of engineering education and experience with your business development acumen.  Or perhaps you decided to retire early, but miss being “in the game”.

This is an opportunity for the entrepreneur type who would like to come on board, learn the proven ropes while making a good compensation package, and within 3-4 years take the realm of Managing Partner.  If this sounds like you, read on.

Leader in Wireless Technology Workshops

NextGen Global Executive Search has been retained by a client located in the Mid-Atlantic who develops and facilitates technical workshops worldwide for all levels of the wireless industry supply chain – from mobile operators to major OEMS, network infrastructure systems, passive and active components, RF design & assembly services, and other suppliers to the wireless ecosystem in the handset, network, travel, and security sectors.

The workshop objectives are that technical and business leaders of companies worldwide desire to work together to identify new wireless markets, products and services and to find ways to work together to reduce costs of ALL commercial things wireless – including, but not limited to handsets, cellular infrastructure, short range radios, automotive wireless, millimeter wave radios, security sensors, etc, etc. — anything that transmits or receives a radio signal.

The company provides the world’s top workshops in the wireless supply chain.  Surveys of attendees have shown that member companies and attendees remember their experience and return to future workshops.  Their success has come from their ability to FOCUS on a particular topic and allows members to dig deeply into the technical and business issues of that particular topic.  What makes their workshops better than conference organizations – instead of a “student-teacher” format – where a person stands in front of the room and gives a 20-30 minute presentation, takes a few questions, and sits down, this company engages the speakers deeply thru probing questions, long panel sessions and social networking.  This allows attendees a chance to obtain a deeper understanding of the topics at hand AND network with their peers and other industry leaders.  No press, consultants, or 3rd party sales reps in the room and the workshop audience is limited to fewer than 100 persons with a maximum of 3 persons from any one company. This creates an environment where everyone in the room can share knowledge and learn from each other – rather than have a lot of people “taking” and not “sharing” first-hand knowledge.

Reporting to the Managing Partner, the Director is responsible for making contact and networking with current members, identifying wireless industry-wide technical and business issues, organizing workshop agendas, and moderating the workshops (held in North America, Europe, LATAM, MENA, and APAC).  Responsible for writing the workshop Executive Summaries, organizing conference calls and other industry wide community building activities which provide ongoing value to our members.

Primary job responsibilities:

• Maintain and develop strong relationships with current and potential member companies.
• Work with the team and member companies to develop and create workshops that are traditionally 2-3 days in length. This would include creating all topics and agendas and working with member companies and wireless carriers to secure the appropriate subject matter experts to attend. (operational process of workshops IE hotel and room set ups etc are managed by other members of the team)
• Creating and managing the new web page properties for the workshops.
• Managing all people and processes leading up to each workshop.
• Create and manage post work shop content briefs, growing social networking groups and content, looking for and listening for industry trends that are or will be important to member companies.

Interacting with members on the technical elements of wireless devices, networks and applications.

Your career path should include the following:

• Began career as a RF systems design engineer, systems architect, or R&D for a mobile operator, wireless infrastructure vendor, or wireless OEM components manufacturer.
• Progressed to working in product management in interfacing with customer requirements and suppliers.
• Moved into technical product marketing, RF sales engineer, or business development.
• Has spent the last several years in sales of wireless systems to mobile operators.  This is of PRIMARY importance as the candidate must possess a “hunter” mentality – not a farmer.
• Recent experience in not just attending industry events, conferences, roundtables, and workshops (CTIA, Mobile World Congress, WiMAX Forum, FemtoCell Forum, etc.), but also as a speaker or workshop/conference panel moderator/facilitator.
• Finally, you must have organized and/or chaired at least 10 professional workshops or conference panels (working groups).  Please note that having chaired or co-chaired standards bodies is not relevant experience.
• Has a practicing knowledge of Transactional Analysis (more below).
• Understands the value and importance of building and maintaining customer relationships (internal and external).
• Customer focused team player with very good social, oral, and written communication skills.  Not afraid to sweat the details while being willing to understand the “big picture”.
• Superb time management skills able to work with and meet deadlines, as well as able to work with fast paced and often changing priorities.
• Thorough understanding of sales in the tangibles vs. the intangibles.
• Strong skills in Word, PPT, Excel, other computer presentation software.

• Previous global travel experience.  Travel time will be 25-35%.  4-8 weeks out of each year will be outside the United States.  (requires valid passport)

Intangible Traits Required:

Understands how to take the “child” role in the “parent-child relationship” within Transactional Analysis techniques.  You are not afraid to asking dumb questions and can separate your role from your identity as the moderator/facilitator; you are the LEAST important person in the workshops.  In fact, we do NOT want the smartest technical guy in the room, rather one who has the ability to lead the workshop through the “subject discovery process”.   Have a hunter personality with key relationship building traits.

The Ideal Candidate/Requirements:

The ideal candidate is an entrepreneur type, who is a “roll-up-your sleeves” and “can do” hunter personality with several start-up experiences.  If your experience is primarily working for large conglomerates with loads of staff support where you facilitate the work among different support staff, you are NOT a fit.  The ideal candidate understands the difference between looking at the “whole” vs. “the parts” and is pre-disposed to looking at and understanding the whole.  You have 15+ years’ experience working in the wireless industry with specific knowledge of RF wireless networks and devices.