Principal Optical Engineer

Principal Optical Engineer

We are seeking an experienced Principal Optical Engineer to join Nokia's optical team. You will own calibration, sustaining, and optical integration for our high-speed coherent linecard products—supporting the current generation in development and production, while helping define methods and practices for the next generation of coherent optics. You will work across prototypes/EVB bring-up, linecard integration, manufacturing enablement, and ongoing performance sustainment, partnering with DSP, hardware, firmware, test, and manufacturing teams.

Your Responsibilities

Your responsibilities include:

• Own optical (and related electro-optic) calibration architecture, procedures, and tooling for coherent modules/linecards across development, NPI, and manufacturing; correlate calibration results with system KPIs (e.g. BER/FEC margin, OSNR tolerance, EVM/Q).
• Lead sustaining for optical performance: production/yield issues, field returns, failure analysis support, root-cause analysis, and durable corrective actions with cross-functional owners.
• Drive optical integration from first prototypes/EVB through linecard integration and manufacturing process enablement; develop and document bring-up and optimization flows that scale from lab to factory.
• Analyze test and calibration data; produce clear reports with findings, risk assessment, and recommendations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, debug, and optimize coherent optical performance; troubleshoot system issues to maintain performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Contribute calibration/integration learnings from the current product generation into next-generation coherent platforms.
• Serve as a technical leader and mentor for optical engineers; communicate status, risks, and trade-offs to project leads and management.
• Stay current with advancements in coherent optics and fiber communications and apply relevant methods to team practice.

Your Skills and Experience

You have:

• Master's or Ph.D. in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field—or equivalent industry experience.
• Minimum of 7+ years of experience in optical engineering, with a focus on high-speed optical systems / coherent transceivers / linecards.
• Proven expertise in optical calibration, sustaining/debug, and/or optical integration of coherent modules or linecards.
• Strong knowledge of optical components, systems, and coherent transmission technologies.
• In-depth understanding of coherent transceivers and DSP blocks at Tx & Rx (e.g. pre-emphasis, equalization, carrier phase recovery, timing recovery, QAM modulation) and how they interact with calibration and optical front-end behavior.
• Hands-on experience characterizing and troubleshooting high-speed coherent optics with lab equipment such as OSA, wave/spectrum analyzers, real-time oscilloscopes, optical switches/attenuators, and power meters.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to own issues from first symptom to verified fix. Strong communication and teamwork across optical, DSP, hardware, firmware, test, and manufacturing stakeholders.
• Demonstrated technical leadership or mentoring of engineers (formal or informal) on a shipping or advanced-development optical product.
• Experience in Python coding and object-oriented programming for lab automation, calibration, and data analysis.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience taking coherent optics products from prototype → NPI → manufacturing, including factory calibration and yield improvement.
• Familiarity with ODVT / design verification and how calibration gates interact with release criteria.
• Proficiency with optical simulation/modeling tools.
• Familiarity with industry standards (e.g. OIF, IEEE, ITU) for coherent interfaces. Familiarity with Git workflows (GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.).
• Experience with databases or data pipelines for test/calibration data (SQL, NoSQL, or time-series).

More Information

Some of our benefits in Canada:

• Corporate Retirement Savings Plan
• Health and dental benefits
• Short-term disability, and long-term disability
• Life insurance, and AD&D – Company paid 2x base pay
• Optional or Supplemental life and AD&D insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
• Paid time off for holidays and Vacation
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Adoption assistance
• Employee Assistance Program/Work Life Resource Program

The above benefits exclude students. Disclaimer for US/Canada Nokia Maintains broad annual base salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience and market conditions, and with consideration to internal peer equity. Check the salary ranges in the job info section for this role. All North America job posts will post for a minimum of 7 calendar days and up to 180 days or until candidate/s identified.

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If you're interested in this role but don't meet every listed requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich our teams, and you may be just the right candidate for this or another opportunity.

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Job Info

• Job Category Applied R&D
• Degree Level Bachelor's degree
• Job Schedule Full time
• Job Type Experienced
• Job Identification 40847
• Role Type Individual contributor
• Salary Range Canada Annual Base Salary Range * $ 151,000.00 – 200,000.00 *Plus, potential incentive/variable compensation for eligible roles US Annual Base Salary Range * USD 159,782.61 - 296,739.13 *Plus, potential incentive/variable compensation for eligible roles
• Experience level Experienced
• Locations 600 March Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K2K 2E6, CA 6373 San Ignacio Avenue, San Jose, California, 95119-1200, US (Onsite)
• Regular or Temporary Regular