Optical Transport Network Architect — Roadmaps & Automation

Fiber Broadband; Ann Arbor (MI); On-site; USD 145,000 - 163,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Health Spending Account

Sick Time

Vacation Time

Tax Deferred Retirement Plan

Job summary

Internet2 seeks a Network Architect, Optical Transport to shape the optical layer of its national research and education network. You will define roadmaps, specify optical services, and lead cross‑functional teams including architecture, engineering, and NOC to ensure scalable, reliable transport platforms.

You will champion automation, telemetry, and innovation while collaborating with vendors and the community to advance industry standards and best practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a related field.
• 5+ years designing, engineering, or operating coherent DWDM/ROADM transport networks.
• Experience with optical link engineering and subsystem design.
• Hands-on experience with pluggable coherent optics (400ZR/ZR+, OpenZR+, 800ZR).
• Experience in 24x7 operations and incident handling.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the strategy, roadmap, and architecture for the optical transport platform.
• Forecast capacity needs and plan expansions; manage fiber assets and colocation requirements.
• Produce specifications, planning documents, BOMs, and budgets for decision making.
• Define technical specs for optical services (waves, spectrum, OTN clients).
• Lead optical automation and telemetry platform evolution; drive software integration and testing.
• Mentor engineers and support vendors and NOC teams.

Skills

Optical transport architecture

DWDM/ROADM design

Coherent DWDM

OSNR/PMD analysis

Vendor management

Technical leadership

Documentation & specs

Travel up to 25%

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics/Photonics, Computer Science

Tools

OpenROADM

OpenConfig

TIP

GNPy

NSO/Ansible

Ciena 6500/Waveserver

Job description

Internet2 seeks a Network Architect, Optical Transport to shape the optical layer of its national research and education network. You will define roadmaps, specify optical services, and lead cross‑functional teams including architecture, engineering, and NOC to ensure scalable, reliable transport platforms.

You will champion automation, telemetry, and innovation while collaborating with vendors and the community to advance industry standards and best practices.