Translation Engineer

Job Description

The following information aims to provide potential candidates with a better understanding of the requirements for this role.

Seeking a Contract Translations Engineer – Converged Services Platform (CSP) Capital Projects to provide specialized translations engineering support exclusively for capital projects associated with the evolution of voice services from legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technologies to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) environment.

The Converged Services Platform (CSP) encompasses the platforms, systems, and network equipment deployed to transition voice services and supporting network functions to a SIP-based environment. CSP solutions currently include equipment supplied by Ribbon and Stratus and may incorporate equipment from additional vendors as determined by the Network Evolution Planning Team.

CSP capital projects may include the migration of voice traffic, trunks, signaling, routing, and associated services from legacy switching and transport platforms to SIP-based infrastructure. Projects may also include migration of ancillary TDM facilities supporting voice services, such as SS7 A-Links, to packet-based transport utilizing circuit emulation or other appropriate technologies.

As a Contract Translations Engineer supporting CSP capital projects, you will be responsible for the analysis, design, development, implementation, testing, validation, and troubleshooting of network translations necessary to successfully execute these migrations.

Your work will help ensure that voice services and their supporting network functions are transitioned from legacy infrastructure to the CSP environment accurately, efficiently, and with minimal customer or network impact.

This position is dedicated to CSP capital-project execution and is not intended to provide routine business-as-usual (BAU) translations support or general ownership of switching offices.

As a Contract Translations Engineer – CSP Capital Projects, your duties will include but are not limited to:

• Reviewing CSP capital-project requirements, network designs, engineering documentation, circuit records, implementation plans, and other technical inputs to identify translations and network configuration requirements.
• Analyzing existing legacy TDM voice-network configurations and determining the translations changes necessary to migrate services, traffic, signaling, and associated network functions to the CSP environment.
• Designing translations solutions supporting the migration and coexistence of legacy TDM and SIP-based network environments.
• Developing and implementing translations associated with call routing, trunking, signaling, screening, numbering, traffic migration, network interconnection, and other functions required by assigned CSP capital projects.
• Supporting the migration of voice trunks and associated network traffic from legacy switching platforms to CSP infrastructure.
• Supporting translations and network configuration activities associated with migration of ancillary TDM services supporting the voice network, including SS7 A-Links transported through circuit emulation equipment where applicable.
• Coordinating translations requirements across legacy switching systems, CSP equipment, signaling infrastructure, transport facilities, and other affected network elements.
• Developing detailed implementation procedures, Methods of Procedure (MOPs), translations scripts, command sequences, test plans, validation procedures, and back-out plans for assigned projects.
• Performing detailed pre-implementation analysis and validation to identify routing conflicts, translations dependencies, signaling issues, capacity concerns, service impacts, or other conditions that could affect successful project implementation.
• Establishing and documenting baseline network conditions necessary to validate successful migration and facilitate troubleshooting or restoration if required.
• Implementing approved translations changes during scheduled CSP project maintenance windows in accordance with engineering, change-management, and network-operating practices.
• Exercising sound professional judgment when implementing translations changes to minimize the risk of customer-affecting service degradation, call-routing failures, signaling disruptions, or network outages.
• Performing post-migration testing and validation to verify successful call routing, trunk operation, signaling, screening, and other affected network functions.
• Analyzing signaling and call-processing information to identify and resolve translations-related problems encountered during migration, testing, or post-implementation validation.
• Troubleshooting interactions between legacy TDM switching systems and SIP-based CSP infrastructure during migration and coexistence periods.
• Executing or supporting approved back-out and restoration procedures when project implementation does not meet established acceptance criteria.
• Coordinating implementation activities with Network Evolution Planning, engineering, operations, project management, transport, signaling, vendors, and other technical organizations involved in CSP capital-project execution.
• Working with CSP equipment vendors, including Ribbon and Stratus, as necessary to coordinate network translations, configuration requirements, interoperability, testing, and troubleshooting.
• Supporting equipment from additional CSP vendors when incorporated into the network at the direction of the Network Evolution Planning Team.
• Maintaining accurate project records documenting translations designs, implementation procedures, changes performed, test results, issues encountered, corrective actions, and final network configurations.
• Identifying translations-related technical risks, network dependencies, implementation conflicts, and schedule concerns and communicating them promptly to the appropriate project and technical leads.
• Participating in project planning meetings, design reviews, implementation-readiness reviews, change-management reviews, maintenance-window coordination, and post-implementation reviews as required.
• Managing translations deliverables for multiple concurrent CSP capital projects while meeting established project milestones, implementation schedules, and completion dates.
• Providing subject-matter expertise regarding legacy voice-network translations and their interaction with SIP-based CSP technologies.

Scope of Role

This contract position is dedicated exclusively to capital projects associated with Converged Services Platform and the migration of voice services and supporting network functions from legacy technologies to a SIP-based environment.

The scope may include projects involving:

• Legacy TDM-to-SIP voice-service migration.
• Trunk and traffic migration.
• Call-routing and numbering-plan changes.
• Signaling migration and interworking.
• SS7 and associated signaling infrastructure.
• Migration of ancillary TDM circuits supporting voice services.
• Circuit emulation used to transport legacy services across packet-based infrastructure.
• Legacy and CSP network coexistence during phased migrations.
• Network consolidation, modernization, and legacy-platform retirement associated with CSP deployment.

Routine BAU translations activities, ongoing switch optimization, general translations queue management, unrelated service orders, employee training, and operational work unrelated to an assigned CSP capital project are outside the normal scope of this position.

The contractor is expected to manage assigned translations deliverables from initial technical analysis through implementation, testing, validation, documentation, and project closeout while maintaining close coordination with the personnel responsible for the production network and overall project.

You will thrive in this role if you:

• Possess a bachelor's degree in computer science, telecommunications, engineering, or a related discipline, or have equivalent telecommunications or military experience.
• Have significant hands-on experience with translations engineering in carrier-class voice networks.
• Possess a strong working knowledge of legacy TDM voice switching and associated call-routing, trunking, signaling, screening, and numbering functions.
• Understand SIP-based voice-network architecture and the principles involved in transitioning services between TDM and SIP environments.
• Understand SS7 signaling concepts and the relationship between signaling links, signaling infrastructure, voice trunks, routing, and call processing.
• Have demonstrated experience supporting complex network migrations, modernization programs, switch consolidations, network rearrangements, or other telecommunications capital projects.
• Are capable of analyzing an existing network configuration and translating engineering requirements into accurate and executable network changes.
• Are experienced in developing and executing MOPs, implementation procedures, test plans, validation procedures, and back-out plans.
• Can independently analyze complex call-routing, signaling, trunking, and translations issues while recognizing and escalating network risks appropriately.
• Are comfortable working within formal network change-management processes and executing production-network changes during scheduled maintenance windows.
• Can interpret technical network documentation, circuit information, routing data, signaling information, and implementation requirements.
• Are comfortable utilizing terminal and remote-access clients such as PuTTY and SecureCRT.
• Are adept at using Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word and Excel, for technical documentation, project tracking, data analysis, and implementation planning.
• Can effectively coordinate technical activities across planning, engineering, operations, transport, signaling, project management, and vendor organizations.
• Can manage multiple concurrent project assignments while meeting established milestones and implementation schedules.

A plus if you have:

• Direct experience with Ribbon voice, session border controller, media gateway, or related carrier-class network platforms.
• Direct experience with Stratus telecommunications platforms or solutions used within carrier voice networks.
• Experience with circuit emulation technologies used to transport legacy TDM services over packet-based networks.
• Experience migrating voice traffic or network services from legacy TDM switching systems to SIP-based infrastructure.
• Experience with SS7 signaling networks, including A-Links, signaling transfer points, signaling routing, and associated network translations.
• Experience interpreting ISUP/Q.764, Q.931, SIP, and other telecommunications signaling and networking protocols.
• Experience with carrier-class trunk groups, routing plans, numbering plans, signaling configurations, and interoffice network arrangements.
• Experience with voice-network modernization, switch decommissioning, network consolidation, or legacy-platform retirement programs.
• Work experience as a Translations Engineer, Central Office Network Technician, Voice Network Operations Center Engineer, or similar telecommunications network role.
• Experience developing, running, and debugging automation or data-processing scripts using Python, Perl, VBScript, or similar technologies.
• Experience performing pre- and post-change network validation and troubleshooting customer-affecting voice-network issues.

Language Skills

• Proficiency in spoken and written English is required. xhyhwjd
• The ability to clearly document complex technical procedures and communicate network designs, implementation status, technical risks, troubleshooting findings, and project issues to and vendor stakeholders is essential.