Principal Architect, Technology - Transport

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Washington.

📋 Description

• Develop and oversee the architecture for long-haul and regional dark fiber routes, encompassing ring topology, route diversity, redundancy standards, and failure domain assessments.

• Establish the fiber route acquisition strategy, criteria for IRU evaluation, requirements for route surveys, and conduct technical due diligence for new fiber agreements.

• Keep transport network documentation up to date, including route inventories, fiber maps, strand assignments, splice records, and capacity databases.

• Take ownership of OTDR testing standards, fiber acceptance criteria, and monitoring of plant performance.

• Design the DWDM and coherent optical infrastructure, which includes selecting platforms, planning ROADM degrees, and engineering wavelengths.

• Set guidelines for optical capacity planning, traffic forecasting, wavelength utilization thresholds, fiber exhaust modeling, and criteria for upgrades.

• Manage the OTN/FlexGrid transport architecture, including framing standards, multiplexing hierarchy, and protection switching mechanisms.

• Assess open line systems and disaggregated optical architectures for their cost-effectiveness and operational suitability.

• Develop a strategy for data center interconnects, focusing on wavelength engineering, low-latency path designs, and capacity scaling.

• Outline the co-location strategy, including meet-me room presence, cross-connect standards, and infrastructure for peering and transit interconnections.

• Cultivate relationships with co-location providers, addressing SLA governance, capacity planning, and commercial terms.

• Design transport infrastructure to facilitate expansion into adjacent markets and edge-out initiatives.

• Oversee network-wide transport capacity planning, modeling traffic matrices, monitoring link utilization, and planning upgrades.

• Collaborate with Network Planning to evaluate fiber availability, route costs, and conduct build-versus-lease analyses for new markets.

• Work together with IP Core and Metro architects to enhance the integration of transport and IP layers.

• Perform additional duties as necessary to support business needs and adapt to organizational changes.

⛳️ Requirements

• High school diploma or GED.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Telecommunications, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience in transport architecture.

• Over 10 years of experience in transport network engineering, optical networking, backbone infrastructure, or carrier transport.

• Proven experience as a senior independent contributor who sets architectural standards, influences technical direction, mentors engineers, and drives cross-functional decisions.

• Extensive knowledge of DWDM/ROADM platforms like Ciena, Infinera, Nokia, or similar, including architecture, commissioning, and operations of coherent optical systems.

• Strong background in dark fiber operations, covering IRU agreements, fiber route management, OTDR testing, splice documentation, and fiber plant acceptance.

• Experience in transport capacity planning and traffic engineering on a regional or national scale.

• Comprehensive understanding of OTN/FlexGrid architecture, including framing, multiplexing, protection schemes, and optical performance monitoring.

• Familiarity with co-location and DCI strategies, meet-me room operations, cross-connect management, and carrier interconnections.

• Exceptional technical documentation skills.

• Experience in creating architecture decision records, reference designs, transport standards, frameworks for route diversity, operational runbooks, capacity planning frameworks, and governance processes.

• Candidates must be authorized to work in the US for any employer.

• Sponsorship is not available.

• Ability to work autonomously while exercising sound judgment.

• Capacity to multitask and collaborate effectively.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with strong attention to detail and organizational abilities.

• Capability to meet critical deadlines and adapt to changing priorities.

• Ability to deliver outstanding customer service.

• Senior technical leadership, analytical thinking, systems thinking, executive presence, and communication skills are essential.

• Must meet physical requirements, including occasional lifting or moving of up to 25 pounds.

• A pre-employment background check is required.

• Pre-employment drug screening may be necessary.

🏝️ Benefits

• Medical insurance.

• Dental insurance.

• Vision insurance.

• 401(k) plan.

• Flexible spending account.

• Paid sick leave.

• Paid time off.

• Parental leave.

• Quarterly performance bonuses.

• Training opportunities.

• Career growth programs.

• Education reimbursement programs.