System Engineering Specialist

EXFO Inc.; Montreal (administrative region); On-site; CAD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

EXFO Inc. in Montreal, Canada seeks a System Engineering Specialist to drive high-speed Ethernet product definitions and specs.

You will collaborate with product line management to capture customer use cases and market needs, and support development teams through the lifecycle. The role emphasizes 400G/800G and next-generation PHY technologies, with responsibilities spanning from technical studies to defining test products and test strategies.

Qualifications

• Experience with high-speed Ethernet (400G/800G) and PHY technologies.
• Strong knowledge of SerDes, link training, and equalization.
• Familiarity with TCP/IP, PTP, and IEEE 802.3 standards.
• Ability to translate standards to test and measurement contexts.
• Excellent technical writing and communication skills.
• Experience with Agile development is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Act as resident technical SME for Ethernet high-speed topics.
• Produce detailed technical specifications for development teams.
• Define user stories and prioritize the development backlog.
• Contribute to test strategies for high-speed interfaces.
• Support evaluation and integration of 112G/224G/448G interfaces.

Skills

High-speed Ethernet

SerDes

TCP/IP

FEC

Signal integrity

Agile

Technical writing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Software/Computer Engineering

Job description

Job Summary

As a System Engineering Specialist in the Research & Development department, you will play a significant role in producing high quality technical requirement specifications for new products and features in our Network Instruments Portfolio. In active collaboration with the product line management team, you will identify and understand customer use cases and market needs, define innovative and appropriate solutions, and support development teams throughout the product lifecycle. This role includes a strong focus on next-generation high-speed Ethernet technologies (1.6T / 3.2T) and electrical transmission systems based on 224G and 448G signaling. You will be part of a System Engineering team where responsibilities are shared across multiple experts, each contributing their domain knowledge to the overall product definition.

What you'll do

• Act as a resident technical subject matter expert
• Conduct domain technology scouting and follow industry standards
• Produce technology studies on emerging topics of interest for the business
• Define new test products, features and methodologies
• Produce detailed technical specifications for development teams
• Ensure the conceptual and technical integrity of product and feature requirements
• Define user stories, manage and prioritize development backlog
• Fulfil the role of Technical Product Owner within Agile development teams
• Contribute to system definition and test strategies for high-speed Ethernet interfaces and next-generation PHY technologies
• Support evaluation and integration of high-speed electrical interfaces (112G / 224G / 448G) in test and measurement systems

What we're looking for

Technical skills:

• Excellent knowledge of high-speed Ethernet technologies (400G, 800G, 1.6T and beyond)
• Strong understanding of electrical transmission and SerDes technologies (112G, 224G and beyond)
• Good understanding of transmitter and receiver architectures, including equalization, link training, clock and data recovery (CDR), forward error correction (FEC), signal conditioning, jitter/noise considerations and overall link behavior.
• Good knowledge of transport/datacom protocols such as TCP/IP, 1588 PTP
• Strong understanding of applicable industry standards (IEEE 802.3, OIF, etc.)
• Familiar with high-speed hardware interfaces and system constraints such as signal integrity, bandwidth and latency
• Experience with test and measurement systems is an asset
• Excellent technical writing abilities

Required aptitudes:

• High interest in emerging telecommunication technologies
• Strong ability to understand and model complex systems, including physical layer behavior
• Capability to digest, interpret and adapt industry standards to the test and measurement market
• Capability to develop innovative ideas and concepts
• Excellent analysis and synthesis skills
• Capability to handle complex problems and situations
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
• Good knowledge of Agile development methodologies
• Strong team spirit and collaborative mindset
• High sense of responsibility, autonomy and efficiency
• Capable of multi-tasking
• Must have Bachelor's degree

Résumé du poste

Responsabilités principales

• Agir en tant qu'expert technique de référence dans le domaine
• Effectuer une veille technologique et suivre les standards de l'industrie
• Réaliser des études technologiques sur des sujets émergents d'intérêt pour l'entreprise
• Définir de nouveaux produits de test, fonctionnalités et méthodologies
• Produire des spécifications techniques détaillées pour les équipes de développement
• Assurer l'intégrité conceptuelle et technique des exigences produit et fonctionnalités
• Définir des user stories, gérer et prioriser le backlog de développement
• Assumer le rôle de Technical Product Owner au sein des équipes Agile
• Contribuer à la définition des systèmes et des stratégies de test pour les interfaces Ethernet haute vitesse et les technologies PHY de nouvelle génération
• Soutenir l'évaluation et l'intégration d'interfaces électriques haute vitesse (112G / 224G / 448G) dans les systèmes de test et mesure

Profil recherché

Compétences techniques :

• Excellente connaissance des technologies Ethernet haute vitesse (400G, 800G, 1,6T et au-delà)
• Bonne maîtrise des technologies de transmission électrique et SerDes (112G, 224G et plus)
• Bonne compréhension des architectures émetteur et récepteur, incluant égalisation, link training, clock and data recovery (CDR), forward error correction (FEC), conditionnement du signal, considérations de jitter/noise et comportement global du lien
• Bonne connaissance des protocoles de transport/datacom tels que TCP/IP, 1588 PTP
• Bonne compréhension des standards industriels applicables (IEEE 802.3, OIF, etc.)
• Familiarité avec les interfaces matérielles haute vitesse et les contraintes systèmes telles que l'intégrité du signal, la bande passante et la latence
• Expérience avec des systèmes de test et mesure est un atout
• Excellentes capacités de rédaction technique

Aptitudes requises :

• Fort intérêt pour les technologies émergentes en télécommunications
• Solide capacité à comprendre et modéliser des systèmes complexes, incluant le comportement de la couche physique
• Capacité à assimiler, interpréter et adapter les standards de l'industrie au marché du test et mesure
• Capacité à développer des idées et concepts innovants
• Excellentes capacités d'analyse et de synthèse
• Capacité à gérer des problèmes et situations complexes
• Excellentes compétences en communication (écrites et orales)
• Bonne connaissance des méthodologies de développement Agile
• Fort esprit d'équipe et approche collaborative
• Sens élevé des responsabilités, autonomie et efficacité
• Capacité à gérer plusieurs tâches simultanément
• Exigences minimales : Baccalauréat en génie électrique, logiciel ou informatique, ou équivalent
• Plus de 10 ans d'expérience dans l'industrie des télécommunications
• Bilingue (français et anglais, à l'oral et à l'écrit)
• Autorisation légale de travailler au Canada obligatoire

EXFO is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. EXFO develops intelligent software and hardware solutions to test, monitor and analyze the performance of telecommunications networks. Established in 1985, we are trusted advisors for fiber optic, 5G and cloud-native deployments. With operations in 25+ countries- and counting! - we serve the world’s leading mobile network operators, hyperscalers and transceiver manufacturers. Our team welcomes new members with all kinds of skillsets and backgrounds. That's how we accomplish our mission: to ensure the connected world meets the highest expectations, to bring together people, communities and businesses.