Coherent Pluggable Transponder - Systems Engineer

Ciena; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 91,000 - 147,000; Full time

Job summary

Ciena is seeking a motivated engineer to adopt and integrate cutting-edge transmitter technologies into third-party platforms. The role involves testing, automation, and collaboration across multiple teams. Ideal candidates will have a background in engineering or computer science, strong testing skills, and proficiency in relevant programming languages.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision plans

Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

Company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time

Qualifications

• Experience with coherent transponders, especially pluggable form factors.
• Proficiency in Python, JavaScript, C/C++.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Perform integration test plans and lab-based tests.
• Collaborate on competitive demos and field trials.
• Work with teams for evolving solutions and capturing feedback.

Skills

Software automation

Optical transmission

Communication skills

Troubleshooting

Demonstrated proficiency with Python

Demonstrated proficiency with JavaScript

Education

Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent

Tools

MATLAB

C/C++

Web UI (HTML5, CSS, JSON)

Job description

Ciena is committed to our people-first philosophy. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a personalized and flexible work environment that empowers an individual’s passions, growth, wellbeing and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

How You Will Contribute:

Ciena’s product portfolio is evolving with the way customers consume networking equipment. This evolution includes the miniaturization of coherent transponders into “pluggable” form factors, and sub-components for customers integrating in-house transponders. These products address a new and rapidly expanding market of disaggregated solutions, from deep inside the data center (incl. ML/AI interconnects), through metro/regional and long-reach networks.

SE&I supports the tail-end of a development cycle (readying solutions across optical transport, routing & switching and cloud domains), bringing technical solutions to customers via accounts teams and Sales Engineers (SE). The present role focusses on adopting Ciena transmitter technology into native and 3rd party platforms (h/w and s/w) (incl. RnD support), confirmatory lab tests (incl. software automation), proof-of-concept trials/demos, and design feedback into appropriate internal teams.

You will help ensure transponders and hosts adhere to “Coherent Common Management Interface Specification (C-CMIS)” - a plug/host interop standard. You will help customers adopt these technologies into a variety of hosts (native and 3rd party) via technical consultancy, proof-of-concept (PoC) demos, and competitive demos and field trials demonstrating features and performance. You will also work with Ciena Product Line Management (PLM), R&D, Sales, and Services for evolving solutions and capturing customer feedback.

The Must Haves:

• Performing integration testplans for adopting Ciena pluggable transmitters into 3rd party platforms
• Lab-based tests verifying transponder (WL5n, WL6n) performance/specs across a range of metrics (TX/RX interfaces, power consumption, software interface, etc.)
• Software automation accelerating lab/field work (Python, JavaScript)
• Lab/field activities maximizing capacity/performance, interoperating with foreign systems, resolving issues and demonstrating features

Assets:

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent
• Meaningful experience related to coherent transponders, especially pluggable form factors. E.g., CMIS, C-CMIS, SFF-8024, QSFP-DD MSA MSA, etc
• Hardware:
• Knowledge of CMIS, C-CMIS and CFP-MSA standards and client mappings (e.g., GAUI-n)
• Experience with routing/switching equipment (e.g., Ciena, Cisco, Juniper, Nokia, Arista, Huawei)
• Experience with optical transmission (L1), routing/switching (L2/L3), lab instrumentation and/or coherent modems
• Lab experience with optical technology/instrumentation: optical transmission, lab environments, instrumentation (e.g., OSA), coherent modems (e.g., BPSK, DPSK)
• Software:
• Demonstrated proficiency with Python, JavaScript (Angular.js, Ember.js), C/C++, MATLAB
• Web UI (HTML5, CSS, YANG, XML, JSON)
• Northbound interfaces (REST API, NETCONF, gRPC)
• Ability to investigate, troubleshoot, determine root causes across functional teams
• Customer-facing experience; proven ability of establishing confidence/rapport across cultural lines
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Multilingual an asset
• Ability for international travel to Ciena facilities and/or customer sites (~5-15%)
• Organized, meticulous team player

Pay Range:

The annual pay range for this position is $91,800 - $146,600 CAD

#LI-WH1

Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting our diverse products, industries, and lines of business. Please note that the pay range information provided in this posting pertains specifically to the primary location, which is the top location listed in case multiple locations are available.

Non-Sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus, while Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission. In addition to competitive compensation, Ciena offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time. We also comply with all applicable laws regarding Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.

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At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Ciena is anEqual Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.