4G/5G Network Element Platform Software - Senior Lead / Principal Architect

Neev; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Neev in Delhi and Bangalore seeks a Senior Lead/Principal Architect for 4G/5G Network Element Platform Software to design, architect, and deliver high-performance software across CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, and FPGAs. You will guide architecture, delivery, sustenance, and customer support initiatives.

The role requires deep expertise in Linux-based platforms, data plane acceleration, and O-RAN/ telecom protocols, with leadership responsibilities across cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of hands-on experience in 4G/5G Platform Software development.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electronics & Communications, or a related field.
• Certifications such as CNCF CKA/CKAD or Red Hat OpenShift are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end systems engineering, design, architecture, coding, debugging, and deployment of 4G/5G network element platform software.
• Design and implement scalable, ultra-low latency, high-availability systems with deterministic throughput.
• Mentor and review high-performance platform software engineering teams.
• Lead large-scale 4G/5G platform software development programs, sustenance, and customer support.
• Diagnose and resolve complex platform-level issues including packet loss, NUMA imbalances, and timing instabilities.
• Communicate effectively with senior internal leadership and external customer stakeholders.

Skills

Linux bare-metal

DPDK

VPP

SmartNICs

Multi-threading

4G/5G RAN

O-RAN

Kubernetes

C/C++

Python

Education

Bachelor's/Master's in CS/EC/related

Tools

Docker

CI/CD tooling

Kubernetes

Job description

Senior Lead / Principal Architect – 4G/5G Network Element Platform Software

Location: Delhi and Bangalore

Experience Level: 12+ years in 4G/5G Platform Software Development

Domain: Telecommunications, O-RAN, RAN & Core Network Elements, Platform Software

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced 4G/5G Network Element Platform Software Lead/Architect to design, architect, and deliver high-performance, low-latency bare-metal and virtualized platform software. In this role, you will lead the development of platform software across various architectures (CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, Network Processors, ASICs, FPGAs) and drive critical delivery, sustenance, and customer support programs.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Architecture & Engineering: Drive end-to-end systems engineering, design, architecture, coding, debugging, and deployment of 4G/5G network element platform software.
• Performance Optimization: Design and implement scalable, resilient, ultra-low latency, high-availability (HA) systems with deterministic throughput.
• Technical Leadership: Mentor and review high-performance platform software engineering teams toward technical and delivery excellence.
• Program Delivery: Drive large-scale 4G/5G platform software development programs, field sustenance, and customer support operations.
• Root-Cause Analysis: Diagnose and resolve complex platform-level issues, including packet loss, interrupt storms, NUMA imbalances, VF attachment failures, pod networking bottlenecks, and timing/synchronization instabilities.
• Stakeholder Management: Communicate effectively with senior internal leadership and external customer stakeholders.

Required Technical Expertise & Skill Sets

1. Platform & Data Plane Acceleration

• OS & Hardware Platforms: Deep expertise in Linux-based bare-metal and virtualized platform software across CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, Network Processors, ASICs, and FPGAs for 4G/5G RAN and Core network elements.
• User-Space Data Plane: Hands-on experience with VPP, DPDK, DOCA, SR-IOV, RDMA, OVS/OVN, and XDP/eBPF for kernel-bypass packet processing.
• Hardware Offload Architecture: Strong understanding of SmartNICs, SoCs, DPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs used for CPU offload (user-plane workload acceleration, L1 processing, and CPRI/eCPRI radio acceleration).
• System Design: Proven expertise in multi-processing, multi-threading, and concurrent programming models.
• Networking & Telecom Protocols
• Fronthaul & L1/L2 Protocols: CPRI (REC to RE) and eCPRI (packet-based fronthaul over Ethernet/IP).
• Ethernet & Bridging Standards: IEEE 802.3-2022 (Ethernet MAC/PHY), IEEE 802.1Q (VLANs), IEEE 802.1CM (TSN for Fronthaul), and IEEE 802.1AS (Timing/Sync for TSN).
• Security Protocols: IEEE 802.1AE (MACsec), IEEE 802.1X (Port-based access control), IPsec architecture (RFC 4301, AH/ESP, IKEv2), and cryptographic algorithm implementations (RFC 8221, RFC 8247).
• Transport & Core Protocols: IPv4 (RFC 791), IPv6 (RFC 8200), UDP (RFC 768), TCP (RFC 9293), SCTP (RFC 9260), GTP-U (TS 29.281), and MPLS Architecture (RFC 3031).
• Routing & Overlay Protocols: BGP-4 (RFC 4271), MP-BGP (RFC 4760), BGP/MPLS IP VPN (RFC 4364), BGP EVPN (RFC 7432), OSPFv2 (RFC 2328), and OSPFv3 (RFC 5340).
• Synchronization & Timing
• PTP & Telecom Profiles: IEEE 1588-2019 (Base PTP), ITU-T G.8275.1 (Telecom PTP Profile for Phase/Time Sync), and O-RAN Synchronization Architecture (O-RAN.WG9.XTRP-SYN).
• O-RAN & Cloud Native Specifications
• O-RAN Transport & Xhaul: O-RAN WG5/WG9 specifications including Transport (WG5), Xhaul Requirements (WG9.XTRP-REQ), Packet Switched Architectures (WG9.XPSAAS), Converged Packet Transport Networks (WG9.TS.ARCH-REQ-RAN-FH-CPTN), and WDM-based Xhaul Networks (WG9.WDM).
• O-Cloud & Orchestration: Exposure to O2 General Aspects (WG6.TS.O2-GA&P), O2ims Interface (WG6.TS.O2IMS-INTERFACE), O2dms (Kubernetes Native API & ETSI NFV profiles), O-Cloud Information Model, Notification APIs, and Application Service Descriptors (ASD).
• Acceleration Abstraction Layer (AAL): O-RAN AAL Common API, High-PHY Profiles, MU-MIMO Precoder/Beamformer Profile, and FEC Profiles.
• Programming, Virtualization & Tools
• Languages: C/C++, Python, with strong Object-Oriented Design concepts.
• Cloud & Containers: Docker, Kubernetes, Container Platforms, and microservices networking.
• Build & Automation: Build environments (Makefiles) and CI/CD automation pipelines.

Qualifications & Certifications

• Experience: 12+ years of hands-on experience in 4G/5G Platform Software development.
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electronics & Communication Engineering, or a related field.
• Preferred Certifications:
• CNCF Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) / Application Developer (CKAD)
• RedHat Certified Specialist / OpenShift Certifications

Skills: o,architecture,cloud,software,ran,ieee,design,4g