Lead Optical Fiber Network Engineer (OSP/ISP)

Role: Senior Optical Fiber Network Engineer (OSP/ISP

Work Location: Los Angeles, CA (Onsite)

Logistics

·       Must be able to work from client office as needed in downtown Los Angeles with regional travel to construction sites and facilities rooms as required.

·       Ability to lift and maneuver equipment and work in MMR/TER spaces in accordance with safety policies.

Role Summary

We are seeking a senior-level hybrid Outside Plant (OSP) and Inside Plant (ISP) optical engineer to own end-to-end fiber infrastructure from metro rings and laterals through building entry, meet-me rooms, optical distribution frames (ODFs), and patching into routers/optical systems. The ideal candidate combines deep knowledge of OSP route engineering and civil constraints with ISP physical layer design, acceptance testing, and turn-up of carrier-grade optical paths (e.g., CWDM/DWDM) supporting enterprise and service provider networks.

Key Outcomes (What Success Looks Like)

• Validated, documented, and accepted fiber paths from street to rack with proven route diversity and optical budgets that meet service objectives.

• Production-ready OSP/ISP as-builts: strand maps, splice diagrams, ODF port plans, labeling schedules, and patch-field maps.

• On-time turn-up of protected optical links to edge routers/OTN/DWDM with passing OTDR/IL/ORL results and method-of-procedure (MOP) sign-offs.

• Clear handover packages for operations, including trouble-isolation playbooks and restoration runbooks.

Core Responsibilities

Outside Plant (OSP)

·       Plan and review metro ring, spur, and lateral routes; interpret utility records, right-of-way (ROW) constraints, and municipal permit requirements.

·       Specify and validate conduits/ducts, handholes/vaults, aerial spans, slack storage, splice closures, and restoration coils; ensure constructability and safety.

·       Engineer and enforce physical path diversity (separation, no crossovers/shared single points of failure) from street to building entry.

·       Develop/validate splice plans and fiber assignment (A/B paths), ensuring capacity, growth headroom, and spare policy adherence.

·       Define test plans and acceptance criteria; review OTDR traces and optical loss/reflectance reports; reconcile exceptions and punch lists.

Inside Plant (ISP)

·       Engineer pathways from MPOE to meet-me rooms (MMR) and to telecom rooms (TER/NER): trays/ladders, J-hooks, risers, penetrations, fire-stopping.

·       Design ODF layouts, patching schemes, and port labeling; manage polarity (LC/SC, MPO/MTP), connector types, and trunk/breakout design.

·       Define slack management and bend-radius controls; specify cable types (OS2 single-mode), connector grades, cleaning/inspection procedures.

·       Create rack elevations and patch-field maps; plan A/B optical paths to routers, switches, OTN/DWDM shelves, or ROADM nodes.

·       Own method-of-procedure (MOP), change windows, and cutover plans; coordinate turn-up, validation, and documentation updates.

Experience Supporting Fiber for Sporting Event Broadcast Traffic

·       Engineered and validated fiber pathways to support real-time broadcast traffic for high-density sporting venues.

·       Ensured optical paths met strict latency, jitter, and packet delivery requirements for live production environments.

·       Coordinated OSP/ISP teams to guarantee protected A/B fiber routes for mission‑critical broadcast contribution circuits.

·       Worked with venue technology teams to integrate fiber drops into broadcast compounds, mixed zones, timing systems, and media tribunes.

·       Performed OTDR, IL, ORL, OSNR, and BER validations on all broadcast-related fiber spans before event activation.

·       Developed MOPs for live-event cutovers, minimizing risk to broadcast operations during rehearsals and competition windows.

Optical Systems & Turn-Up

·       Perform link budget analysis including distance attenuation, splice/connector losses, component insertion loss, and design margin.

·       Specify and integrate optics: 10G LR/LR4, 100G LR4/ER4, ZR/ZR+ pluggables; plan DWDM/CWDM lambdas, EDFAs, ROADMs, MUX/DEMUX.

·       Validate OSNR/BER/power balance for DWDM systems; coordinate with NMS for performance monitoring and alarms.

·       Coordinate OSP/ISP acceptance with service activation; ensure SLAs (latency/jitter/loss) and restoration targets are met.

Standards, Quality & Compliance

·       Apply relevant standards: ITU-T G.652.D (OS2), TIA/EIA-568 and -758 (OSP), labeling/administration per TIA-606, grounding/bonding principles per ANSI/TIA-607.

·       Adhere to safety codes and construction best practices; coordinate with utility partners for traffic control, trenching, and aerial work.

·       Maintain rigorous documentation quality: as-builts, redlines, test results, and records in CMDB and drawing repositories.

Collaboration & Leadership

·       Serve as the technical point of contact between civil build teams, splicing contractors, building facilities, and network engineering.

·       Run design reviews and risk assessments; resolve field blockers quickly (reroutes, access constraints, alternate entry paths).

·       Mentor junior engineers and review third-party design packages for completeness and compliance.

Qualifications

·       10+ years in fiber engineering across both OSP and ISP domains, including metro builds and campenterprise interiors.

·       BSEE degree or equivalent.

·       Proficiency with OTDR/OLTS, power meters, fiber inspection scopes, and fiber management databases; ability to interpret complex traces.

·       Hands-on experience with DWDM/CWDM systems, ROADMs, EDFAs, pluggable optics (10G/25G/100G/400G), and optical protection schemes.

·       Demonstrated success delivering dual-path designs with strict route diversity and restoration objectives.

·       Strong drawing literacy (plan/profile, splicing schematics, rack elevations) and comfort with CAD/GIS toolchains (AutoCAD, MicroStation, QGIS/ArcGIS).

Preferred/Bonus

·       Certifications: BICSI RCDD, BICSI Installer 2 (INSTF) Fiber, FOA CFOS/T, Nokia/CIENA/Cisco optical, CCNP/SP, PMP (for complex program coordination).

·       Experience provisioning DWDM equipment.

·       Experience with method-of-procedure (MOP) authoring, change management, and service activation in carrier or large enterprise environments.

·       Familiarity with telemetry/assurance tools for optical paths and experience integrating with NMS/OSS.

·       Understanding of QoS considerations across transport for real-time services and broadcast-grade workloads.