Position Tittle: Senior Optical Transport Engineer
Location: Long Haul Backbone, Mount Laurel, NJ / Denver, CO
Duration: Long Term
Job Details:
We are seeking a Senior Optical Transport Engineer – Long Haul Backbone for a long-term contract engagement supporting the design, delivery, and activation of backbone wavelength services across a large-scale carrier network. This is a hybrid role requiring onsite presence four days per week in either New Jersey or Colorado.
In this role, you will own the complete lifecycle of backbone wavelength services—from initial feasibility analysis and end-to-end path design through provisioning, validation, testing, customer turn-up, and final service acceptance. You''ll be responsible for engineering and delivering high-capacity optical transport services across multi-vendor DWDM networks while ensuring performance, reliability, and operational excellence.
This position follows a single-owner delivery model, where one engineer is accountable for the entire circuit throughout its lifecycle. Rather than handing work off between separate design, provisioning, and testing teams, you will maintain end-to-end ownership across every network segment, including metro ingress, the national backbone, and metro egress, ensuring each service is fully validated and production-ready before customer acceptance
Required Qualifications
10+ years of hands-on experience engineering, provisioning, or supporting DWDM and optical transport networks in a carrier or large-scale service provider environment.
Strong understanding of optical transport technologies, including DWDM, ROADM architectures, wavelength planning, optical amplification, regeneration, OSNR, dispersion, and optical power budgets.
Hands-on experience provisioning and troubleshooting services on optical transport equipment from at least one major vendor, with the ability to work across multiple vendor platforms.
Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot end-to-end circuits across multiple network segments while isolating faults within complex multi-vendor environments.
Strong documentation skills and the ability to work directly with customers, operations teams, field personnel, and vendor support organizations throughout the service delivery process.
Preferred Qualifications
Direct experience with Nokia 1830 PSS, PSD, PSI-M, and related optical transport platforms.
Direct experience with Ciena 6500, Waveserver, and RLS optical platforms.
Experience supporting long haul or backbone optical transport networks.
Familiarity with optical network management and orchestration systems.
Experience performing optical service turn-up, customer acceptance testing, and production implementations.
Key Responsibilities
Wave and Circuit Design
Perform end-to-end feasibility studies and path design for backbone wavelength services, including route selection, regeneration requirements, optical amplification, and reach validation.
Engineer optical spectrum across the complete path, including wavelength assignment, fixed-grid and flex-grid alignment, and spectrum utilization to maximize backbone efficiency while preserving future capacity.
Select the appropriate transponder, muxponder, and line-side hardware based on service rate, reach, and platform requirements.
Validate optical performance against engineering standards before implementation and identify any constraints requiring hardware additions or path modifications.
Document the complete service design, including intermediate sites, equipment, ports, and circuit routing.
Multi-Platform Service Provisioning
Provision end-to-end wavelength services across a multi-vendor optical network consisting of Nokia and Ciena transport platforms.
Configure and turn up services on Nokia optical transport platforms, including the 1830 PSS, PSD, PSI-M family, and related shelf types.
Configure and turn up services on Ciena 6500, Waveserver, and RLS platforms, including transponders, CCMD/CMD components, and line-system elements.
Manage service transitions between vendor platforms and ensure optical and framing parameters remain consistent across vendor boundaries.
Execute provisioning through element and network management systems while maintaining accurate service records, circuit labeling, and implementation documentation.
End-to-End Troubleshooting and Customer Turn-Up
Perform complete validation of wavelength services before customer handoff, including optical power verification, performance testing, error-free burn-in, and confirmation that service objectives have been achieved across the entire path.
Troubleshoot complex issues across multi-vendor optical networks and determine whether faults originate within metro networks, the national backbone, or at vendor boundaries.
Diagnose optical impairments including power issues, OSNR, dispersion, span loss, framing errors, timing issues, and service-layer alarms.
Coordinate with field operations, network operations, and vendor technical support to resolve issues requiring field dispatch or vendor escalation.
Deliver validated, production-ready wavelength services and provide post-installation support for services returning after customer handoff.
Operational Execution and Handoff
Perform end-to-end service acceptance testing, document validation results, and verify that all customer acceptance criteria have been satisfied before placing services into production.
Maintain accurate engineering records, service documentation, turn-up results, circuit labeling, and as-built documentation throughout the delivery lifecycle.
Execute work in accordance with approved operational procedures and engineering practices to minimize customer impact while maintaining backbone stability.
Continuous Improvement
Identify opportunities to automate repetitive design, provisioning, validation, and documentation tasks to improve delivery efficiency and reduce manual effort.
Contribute to implementation procedures, methods of procedure (MOPs), and operational documentation that support backbone wavelength delivery.
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