Senior Hybrid OSP + ISP Optical Engineer (Architect)

NextGen | GTA: A Kelly Telecom Company; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading telecom solutions provider is seeking a senior-level hybrid Outside Plant (OSP) and Inside Plant (ISP) Optical Engineer in Los Angeles. This role involves leading end-to-end fiber infrastructure projects, ensuring compliance with safety codes, and mentoring junior engineers. Candidates should have over 10 years of experience in fiber engineering, with a strong background in OSP and ISP environments. The position requires onsite work four days a week, with regional travel as necessary.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of fiber engineering experience in OSP and ISP environments.
• Experience with metro builds and campus/enterprise interior deployments.
• Strong proficiency with OTDR/OLTS, power meters, and fiber management databases.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end fiber infrastructure projects.
• Plan and review metro ring, spur, and lateral routes.
• Engineer and validate fiber pathways for real-time broadcast traffic.

Skills

OSP route engineering

ISP physical layer design

Civil constraints

Acceptance testing

Turn-up of optical paths

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

AutoCAD

MicroStation

QGIS

ArcGIS

Job description

We are seeking a senior-level hybrid Outside Plant (OSP) and Inside Plant (ISP) Optical Engineer to lead end-to-end fiber infrastructure projects, from metro rings and laterals through building entry, meet-me rooms, optical distribution frames (ODFs), and patching into routers and optical systems.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in OSP route engineering, civil constraints, ISP physical layer design, acceptance testing, and turn-up of carrier-grade optical paths (CWDM/DWDM) supporting enterprise and service provider networks.

Key Outcomes (What Success Looks Like)

• Deliver validated, documented, and accepted fiber paths from street to rack with proven route diversity and optical budgets that meet service objectives.
• Produce production-ready OSP/ISP as-builts including strand maps, splice diagrams, ODF port plans, labeling schedules, and patch-field maps.
• Complete on-time turn-up of protected optical links to edge routers, OTN, and DWDM systems with passing OTDR/IL/ORL results and MOP sign-offs.
• Provide clear handover packages for operations, including trouble-isolation playbooks and restoration runbooks.

Core Responsibilities

Outside Plant (OSP)

• Plan and review metro ring, spur, and lateral routes.
• Interpret utility records, right-of-way constraints, and municipal permit requirements.
• Specify and validate conduits, ducts, handholes, vaults, aerial spans, slack storage, splice closures, and restoration coils.
• Ensure constructability, safety, and physical path diversity from street to building entry.
• Develop splice plans and fiber assignment (A/B paths) with capacity planning and growth headroom.
• Define test plans and acceptance criteria.
• Review OTDR traces and optical loss/reflectance reports.
• Resolve punch-list items and exceptions.
• Engineer pathways from MPOE to meet-me rooms and telecom rooms.
• Design trays, ladders, J-hooks, risers, penetrations, and fire-stopping.
• Create ODF layouts, patching schemes, and labeling standards.
• Manage connector types, polarity, trunk/breakout design, and cable specifications.
• Develop rack elevations and patch-field maps.
• Plan protected A/B optical paths to routers, switches, OTN/DWDM shelves, or ROADM nodes.
• Lead MOP creation, change windows, cutovers, turn-up, and final documentation.

Sporting Event Broadcast Traffic Support

• Engineer and validate fiber pathways for real-time broadcast traffic in high-density venues.
• Ensure optical paths meet strict latency, jitter, and packet delivery requirements.
• Coordinate OSP/ISP teams for protected A/B broadcast contribution circuits.
• Integrate fiber drops into broadcast compounds, mixed zones, timing systems, and media tribunes.
• Perform OTDR, IL, ORL, OSNR, and BER validations before event activation.
• Develop MOPs for live-event cutovers with minimal operational risk.

Optical Systems & Turn-Up

• Perform link budget analysis including attenuation, splice/connector loss, insertion loss, and design margin.
• Specify and integrate optics including 10G/100G/400G pluggables, ZR/ZR+, DWDM/CWDM lambdas, EDFAs, ROADMs, and MUX/DEMUX systems.
• Validate OSNR, BER, and power balance for DWDM systems.
• Coordinate with NMS teams for monitoring and alarms.
• Ensure SLA targets for latency, jitter, packet loss, and restoration are achieved.

Standards, Quality & Compliance

• Apply relevant standards including ITU-T G.652.D, TIA/EIA-568, TIA-758, TIA-606, and ANSI/TIA-607.
• Adhere to safety codes and construction best practices.
• Coordinate with contractors, utilities, and facilities teams for trenching, aerial work, and traffic control.
• Maintain accurate as-builts, redlines, test records, and CMDB documentation.
• Act as the technical point of contact between civil teams, splicing contractors, facilities, and network engineering.
• Lead design reviews and risk assessments.
• Resolve field blockers including reroutes, access constraints, and alternate entry paths.
• Mentor junior engineers and review third-party designs for quality and compliance.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of fiber engineering experience across OSP and ISP environments.
• Experience with metro builds and campus/enterprise interior deployments.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.
• Strong proficiency with OTDR/OLTS, power meters, fiber scopes, and fiber management databases.
• Ability to interpret complex fiber traces.
• Hands-on experience with DWDM/CWDM, ROADMs, EDFAs, pluggable optics, and protection schemes.
• Proven success designing dual-path networks with strict diversity and restoration requirements.
• Strong drawing literacy including plan/profile, splice schematics, and rack elevations.
• Experience with CAD/GIS tools such as AutoCAD, MicroStation, QGIS, or ArcGIS.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications such as BICSI RCDD, BICSI Installer 2 Fiber, FOA CFOS/T, CCNP/SP, PMP, or optical vendor certifications.
• Experience provisioning DWDM equipment.
• Background in MOP authoring, change management, and service activation.
• Familiarity with telemetry and assurance tools for optical networks.
• Understanding of QoS for real-time services and broadcast-grade workloads.

Logistics

• Ability to work onsite in Los Angeles four days per week.
• Willingness to travel regionally to construction sites and facilities as needed.
• Ability to lift and maneuver equipment and work safely in MMR/TER environments.