Network Architect, Optical Transport

Network Architect, Optical Transport

Job Description:

Internet2 is a non-profit, member-driven advanced research and education (R&E) technology organization. Founded in 1996, we provide high-performance infrastructure and integrated cloud solutions, a secure trust fabric, and collaborative forums that allow U.S. higher education and research institutions to drive the next generation of scientific and academic discovery through National High-Performance Infrastructure, Seamless Global Access, Community-Powered Cloud Solutions, Advanced Identity & Security and Community-Driven Innovation. Read our 2025 Annual Report and visit our website (www.internet2.edu) to learn more about us. 

Position Summary:

Internet2 is seeking a highly skilled Network Architect, Optical Transport to provide technical leadership for the optical layer of its national research and education network. This role is responsible for defining the roadmap and long-term direction of the optical transport platform, including line systems, transponders, pluggable coherent optics, ROADM and spectrum architecture, fiber infrastructure, and the automation and telemetry systems that support network operations.

The Network Architect, Optical Transport will translate member and partner demand into capacity plans, network designs, technical specifications, budgets, and implementation strategies, overseeing solutions through testing, deployment, and operational support. Working collaboratively across architecture, engineering, network operations, software, security, and business development teams, this individual serves as a technical authority on optical networking, providing guidance to engineers and NOC staff while representing Internet2 within the community, with vendors, and in standards organizations.

Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Strategic Architecture & Network Planning

• Develop and lead the strategy, roadmap, and architecture for Internet2’s optical transport platform, including optical systems, spectrum and routing design, protocols, supporting software, and long-term infrastructure planning.

• Lead optical network growth and lifecycle planning by forecasting capacity needs, recommending network expansions, managing fiber assets and provider relationships, and providing infrastructure requirements for colocation and hardware refresh initiatives.

Solution Design, Service Development & Documentation

• Produce written specifications, planning documents, project plans, BOMs, and budgets to support decision making; brief the management team and ELT as needed.

• Define and maintain the technical specifications for optical services offered to members and partners (waves, spectrum, alien waves, OTN clients), and work with business development and software on how they are ordered, provisioned, and reported.

Automation, Software Integration & Innovation

• Lead the architecture and evolution of optical automation and telemetry platforms, including performance monitoring, model-driven provisioning, software integration, and collaboration with development teams on prioritization and release validation.

• Drive technology innovation and operational readiness by overseeing laboratory resources, evaluating emerging technologies and vendor solutions, validating network and software changes prior to deployment, and providing technical training and knowledge sharing for engineering teams.

Operations Support & Continuous Improvement

• Manage the technical relationship with optical hardware and software vendors; support build-test, deployment, and NOC teams in escalations and problem resolution.

• Review optical-layer incidents and reasons-for-outage for architectural lessons; feed those back into design, monitoring, and operating procedures.

Technical Leadership & Industry Engagement

• Support the routing/peering architect and other platform leads with optical expertise for integrated designs; mentor transport and NOC engineers.

• Participate in community technical discussions through meetings, webinars, and working groups, and contribute to standards and industry efforts (OIF, OpenROADM, TIP, IETF).

The Ideal Candidate:

• Deep expertise in optical transport architecture, automation, and network operations.

• Proven ability to develop roadmaps, drive capacity planning, and deliver scalable network solutions.

• Strong technical leader who collaborates across teams and mentors engineers.

• Skilled in vendor management, technology evaluation, and industry engagement.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics/Photonics, Computer Science (or related field); or equivalent professional experience.

• 5+ years designing, engineering, or operating coherent DWDM/ROADM transport networks at carrier, large-enterprise, or R&E-backbone scale.

• Working knowledge of optical link engineering: OSNR and margin analysis, chromatic dispersion and PMD, launch power and span budgets, amplifier design, and flexgrid/ROADM architectures.

• Hands-on experience with pluggable coherent optics (400ZR/ZR+, OpenZR+, 800ZR) and IP-over-DWDM or routed-optical designs, including their interaction with the routed layer.

• Experience with fiber plant: fiber characterization and acceptance (OTDR, loss and PMD/CD testing), dark-fiber IRUs, route diversity analysis, and colocation/cross-connect physical infrastructure, including DC power and cabling.

• Experience delivering transport services (waves, spectrum, alien waves, OTN clients) and defining their technical specifications.

• Experience operating in, or directly supporting, a 24x7 operations environment, including incident escalation and root-cause analysis.

• Working familiarity with the routed layer (BGP, IS-IS, SR-MPLS, IOS-XR or Junos) sufficient to design integrated optical and packet solutions.

• Ability to produce clear written specifications, architectural documents, BOMs, and budgets, and to present as a technical authority to peers, executives, and the community.

• Ability to travel up to 25% per year.

• Cover letter, highlighting directly relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years in optical transport; hands-on experience with Ciena 6500 / Waveserver, and with next-generation line systems under consideration.

• Open and disaggregated optical experience: open line systems, OpenROADM, OpenConfig optical models, TIP OOPT, Transport API (TAPI).

• Optical automation and telemetry: streaming performance monitoring (gNMI), model-driven provisioning, Python, and familiarity with network automation frameworks (such as NSO or Ansible).

• Experience with optical planning tools (vendor planners or GNPy) and with laboratory or digital-twin validation of designs and software changes.

• Experience with submarine, international, or multi-domain transport and with the R&E community (regional networks, GNA-G, GÉANT, ESnet, the Quilt).

• Participation in standards or industry bodies (OIF, OpenROADM MSA, TIP, IETF).

What We Offer:

As a full-time employee, you will be eligible to participate in Internet2’s employee benefits program effective on your start date in accordance with the terms and conditions of each plan. The program currently includes medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurances, a health spending account program, sick time, vacation time and a tax deferred retirement plan.

Pay Grade: IT-6

Expected Hiring Range: $144,700 - $162,800

Starting salary is commensurate and may vary with experience and education.

For pay transparency purposes, the full salary range is: $144,700 - $217,100

Internet2 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and equal opportunity employer (EOE). All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.