Senior Optical Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

This is a remote position.

Position Title: Senior Network Engineer - Optical

 

Base Salary: $110,000 to $165,000 annually DOE

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, flexible spending account, paid sick leave and paid time off, parental leave, quarterly performance bonus, training, career growth and education reimbursement programs.

 

Ziply Fiber is a local internet service provider dedicated to elevating the connected lives of the communities we serve. We offer the fastest home internet in the nation, a refreshingly great customer experience, and affordable plans that put customers in charge. 

 

As our state-of-the-art fiber network expands, so does our need for team members who can help us grow and realize our goals.

 

Our Company Values:  

 

• Genuinely Caring:  We treat customers and colleagues like neighbors, with empathy and full attention. 
  

• Empowering You:  We help customers choose what is best for them, and we support employees in implementing new ideas and solutions. 
  

• Innovation and Improvement:  We constantly seek ways to improve how we serve customers and each other.
  

• Earning Your Trust:  We build trust through clear, honest, human communication. 
  

 

Job Summary

The Senior Optical Engineer is responsible for designing, engineering, and supporting the continued growth of Ziply Fiber’s optical transport network. This role focuses on ROADM-based DWDM, OTN, and coherent 100G/400G wavelength services, while helping align the optical layer with the IP/MPLS core network. As a senior technical contributor, this position provides optical engineering expertise, technical leadership, and mentorship, while partnering with network architecture and operations to deliver a scalable, reliable, and future-ready transport network.

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

The Essential Duties and Responsibilities listed below are a range of duties performed by the employee and not intended to reflect all duties performed.

 

Design & Planning

· Perform optical link engineering — wavelength and route planning, optical power and loss budgets, OSNR analysis, chromatic dispersion and PMD management, and EDFA/Raman amplifier placement.

· Design ROADM-based DWDM topologies (fixed and flex-grid) and specify coherent transponders and muxponders for 100G/400G wavelength services.

· Own the end-to-end design of DWDM and optical transport solutions, developed in partnership with network architecture, and define the technical standards and reference designs that guide implementation.

· Deliver wavelength services to the core IP network in a way that complements the architecture and redundancy goals for IP services.

· Plan and prepare detailed equipment installation specifications and drawings.

· Streamline and standardize implementation methods and procedures to support scale.

· Partner with systems engineering to automate network provisioning and turn-up tasks wherever possible.

 

Technical Leadership & Strategy

· Serve as the optical-layer subject-matter expert, providing technical guidance and mentorship to engineers and leading design and peer reviews.

· Develop multi-year optical capacity and technology roadmaps, including migration planning from legacy SONET/TDM toward OTN and coherent transport.

· Lead vendor and technology evaluation and selection, including RFI/RFP processes, lab and proof-of-concept testing, and standardization of platforms and methods.

 

Deployment & Turn-up

· Commission and turn up optical systems using OTDRs, optical spectrum analyzers, and optical power meters; validate span loss, OSNR, and channel power before service activation.

· Isolate and resolve optical-layer faults end-to-end across multi-vendor network segments.

· Participate in the oversight and installation of DWDM and IP network layers.

· Coordinate with third-party fiber providers as needed to successfully turn up DWDM systems.

· Provision DWDM wavelengths for customers and for internal core-network capacity.

· Provision DWDM wavelengths and associated muxes to deliver OC-192 circuits to the TDM team. The DWDM team’s minimum circuit size is OC-192/10G; smaller circuits are handled by the TDM team.

· Connect DC power to DWDM equipment and/or routers.

· Ensure new IP POPs are