Christopher (Chris) Jones

Experience

• 

  Siemens Communications, Inc.

  Jun 1997 - Sept 1997

  Software Engineer, International Student Program

  SISP was the internationally oriented, Siemens-wide program to promote and develop excellent interns and co-op students. A broad range of seminars to improve technical knowledge as well as soft skills are part of the program. To qualify, I had to have excellent performance in a co-op position, possess superior grades, and be fluent in both German and English.I taught myself Practical Extraction and Reporting Language (PERL) to develop tools for the standardization process of Base-Transceiver Station code used in mobile networks. Show less

• 

  Siemens Communications, Inc.

  Feb 2001 - Jun 2006

  I was responsible to develop the overlay VoIP solution business for large and tier-1 incumbent accounts through technical project support of sales opportunities. I led architecture design & growth planning exercises for these large networks. I held business responsibility for a product line having more than $25 million in annual revenues. I provided detailed technical expertise - training, RFP responses, consultations, etc. - for media gateways and session border controllers. I managed a team of four solution managers, three with more than 20 years of industry experience. Show less SGP was a two-year Siemens program designed for qualified graduates with little professional experience but the correct skills to become future company managers. In order to qualify, I had to possess excellent academic credentials, internship experience, and outstanding social and communications skills. I also needed to be internationally minded with a good understanding of at least one non-native language. For me, this was German.Technical Sales, Munich, Germany, June 2002 - Feb 2003- I provided technical project support for Wind (Italy) and Cable & Wireless.Business Manager, Boca Raton, Florida, Oct 2001 - May 2002- I acted as single business unit contact for all technical interactions on Qwest account.Product Manager, Boca Raton, Florida, Feb 2001 - Sept 2001- I managed & owned an OEM relationship with a third-party manufacturer of the product. Show less

  • Product and Solution Manager

    Mar 2003 - Jun 2006

  • Various/Siemens Graduate Program

    Feb 2001 - Feb 2003
• 

  Metaswitch Networks

  Jul 2006 - Jul 2020

  I planned, coordinated, managed, and executed pre-sales lab trials with telecom operators evaluating voice and private 5G packet core solutions throughout the Americas region.Selected Achievements:- I executed more than thirty lab and field trials with greater than 90% technical success. More than half these resulted in sales of the solutions to the operators and the closing of millions of dollars of revenue.- I educated product management (prior to an FCC panel on robocalling) on the newly developing standards to address the problem, resulting in Metaswitch creating and launching in 2018 a STIR/SHAKEN solution.- I successfully completed the first trial of Metaswitch’s STIR/SHAKEN product, collaborating with TNS on a solution using their robocalling product to a Tier 2 wireless operator. This led to partnership for a combined solution of the two products (Call Guardian Authentication Hub) that over 150 operators have now deployed, including four of the top six U.S. wireless carriers. Show less I managed a team of five customer support engineers who provided project management and tier 1 and 2 technical support for 60+ operators of TDM/VoIP networking and advanced call services on Metaswitch and partner equipment. I developed skills as a VoIP security / telecom fraud subject matter expert.Selected Achievement:- I created and authored the Metaswitch Security Center micro-site to help educate Metaswitch customers and address the technical issues of voice toll fraud, a multi-billion-dollar loss each year for operators worldwide. Show less

  • Pre-sales Trials Engineer

    Dec 2015 - Jul 2020

  • Customer Support Manager

    Dec 2008 - Nov 2015

  • Customer Support Engineer

    Jul 2006 - Dec 2008
• 

  Microsoft

  Jul 2020 - now

  As a senior SRE, responsible for- Driving feature operational requirements for Teams Phone Mobile and collaborate with Solution Architects in the Engineering and Product team.- Providing input into product/service design that improves usability and avoids commonly found user pain points. - Partnering with other teams across the organization to nurture, plan and deliver successful engagements that build on customer trust and promise.- Sharing mobile core skills with SRE’s and Project Managers within our organization.- Managing multiple concurrent projects and drive initiatives in a cross functional environment.- Being the subject matter expert for regional and global Teams Phone Mobile operational topics.- Contributing to SLA definition and supplier/partner performance specifications. Show less I managed a team of five cloud solution architects and technical specialists who - engage with customers and partners to validate & increase the adoption of Azure for Operator (AFO) voice and AIOps solutions, with a focus on enabling Azure growth. Includes partnering with Microsoft teams outside of AFO when needed, and- provide hands-on engagement to accelerate knowledge transfer and build customer confidence in first party (Microsoft) Azure-based solutions. As a manager, I- drive the team to build expertise, including relevant advanced certifications in cross-functional Azure specialties, to further differentiate and complement our solutions and drive incremental Azure Consumed Revenue (ACR), - coordinate and communicate of key feedback observed from customer & partner engagements to Product Management and Software Engineering to prioritize solution enhancements in roadmap, - provide resource and project management for ACE engagements of Voice and AIOps solutions, and- support the team in ramping-up on newer solutions in voice and AIOps (example: Network Analytics solution Azure Operator Insights) by strengthening processes and communication with sales, product managers, technical program managers, and software engineering.Selected Achievements:- I successfully resource planned and coordinated projects of more than eighty sales engagement requests per year for a team spread across six countries in the Americas and Europe.- I revamped the sales engagement process for trial and architecture support requests using Power Automate and Azure Dev Ops to reduce overall time execution by 66% and create a tracking system for all customer and partner engagements. Show less I managed a team of eight cloud solution architects and technical specialists who executed pre-sales trials with telecom operators and partners. The team provided technical design and hands-on support for fixed line and mobile voice solutions from acquired companies Metaswitch and Affirmed. This included VoIP and TDM voice technology, as well as both private and public MEC solutions using 4G/5G packet core technology, running on COTS / on-premise hardware, private or public clouds.Selected Achievements:- I project managed a massive, two-month Unified Communications (UC) lab trial running on Google Cloud for a fiber to the home provider in the US. Involved five engineers across three countries and more than 100 test cases covering features, scale, geographic redundancy, and security. Our solution was evaluated as the top technical solution at the trial conclusion.- I coordinated processes and logistics for newly formed team that brought together engineers from acquired companies Metaswitch and Affirmed. This included documenting trials best practices, setting up systems for trials engagement requests from sales and their tracking, and combining information knowledge bases, ticketing systems, and lab resources. Show less The acquisition of my previous company - Metaswitch Networks - completed in July 2020. While my title changed as a part of the Microsoft job taxonomy, the role of the position continued as before: responsible for planning, coordination, management, and execution of pre-sales trials with telecom operators evaluating voice and private 5G packet core solutions.Selected Achievements:- I successfully completed the first lab trial of the Microsoft Teams Operator Connect (OC) solution using the Perimeta Session Border Controller (SBC). This resulted in a commercial sale to Verizon and Microsoft naming them as one of the original ten partners of OC during the public preview announcement of the solution.- I was the lead engineer on a UC field trial, leading to a commercial sale to the largest operator in Brazil. Show less

  • Senior Site Reliability Engineer

    Dec 2023 - now

  • Technology Consulting Manager, Voice and AIOps, Azure for Operators

    Mar 2023 - Nov 2023

  • Technical Specialist and Cloud Solution Architect Manager, Azure for Operators

    May 2021 - Feb 2023

  • Sr. Technical Specialist, Americas Trials, Azure for Operators

    Jul 2020 - May 2021