Infrastructure Network Designer
HELP CONNECT ARIZONA. BUILD THE FUTURE OF BROADBAND.
At Wecom Fiber, we're helping bridge the digital divide across Arizona by building and maintaining the communications infrastructure that powers homes, businesses, schools, and communities. As our next Senior Manager of Field Operations Support, you'll play a key leadership role in scaling operations, improving performance, and helping shape the future of a rapidly growing telecommunications organization.
WHY WECOM?
At Wecom, we believe exceptional people deserve more than a paycheck.
We're building a workplace where employees can grow their careers, make an impact, and help shape the future of telecommunications across Arizona. Our employees are helping connect communities, expand broadband access, and bring meaningful technology infrastructure to underserved areas throughout the state.
Position Summary
The Infrastructure Network Designer plans the interconnection, backbone, and cabinet capacity that Wecom Fiber's growth depends on. Reporting to the Director of Network, this role forecasts capacity, defines upgrades and expansions, and manages network resources, aligning the network roadmap with business growth so capacity stays ahead of demand. Outside plant construction design for FTTX remains with Design & Engineering; this role hands them approved requirements and works with them, Permitting, Construction, and Network Operations to deliver.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Reports To: Senior Director of Network
Key Responsibilities
Backbone, Interconnection & Capacity Planning
- Design and maintain the backbone and interconnection architecture, including metro and long-haul routes, rings, and links between central offices, POPs, and data centers, with cross-connects and handoffs to transport providers and carrier-neutral facilities.
- Coordinate route diversity and redundancy, identify single points of failure, develop restoration plans, and recommend cost-effective build, lease, or IRU options.
- Forecast multi-year capacity for backbone, transport, interconnect links, and cabinet OLT electronics using subscriber growth, take rates, and traffic trends, planning for next-generation technologies, and set utilization thresholds that trigger upgrades.
- Define upgrade and expansion projects with scope, timing, and justification, and provide BOM/BOQ data and business cases to Finance.
- Own and maintain backbone, interconnection, and cabinet planning standards and reference designs; lead technical design reviews, with final architecture approval retained by the Director of Network.
- Evaluate equipment and platform options, interoperability, and proof-of-concept results with Network Operations; maintain technology refresh, end-of-life replacement, and migration roadmaps for the infrastructure within this role's scope.
- Maintain a rolling capacity plan, monthly utilization dashboard, constrained-resource register, and prioritized upgrade schedule aligned with subscriber growth forecasts and equipment and carrier delivery lead times.
- Validate resiliency through failure-scenario capacity analysis, confirming that remaining routes, equipment, and interconnections can support required traffic following a planned single-failure scenario.
Cabinet & Resource Management
- Define the capacity needed for each planned cabinet, recommend placement, and identify where backbone or interconnection fiber will feed it, including route, source, available strands, and required build.
- Manage allocation of fiber, wavelengths, ports, rack space, and power at central offices and cabinets, reserving resources for approved projects and reclaiming what is unused.
- Keep resource records accurate in GIS and inventory systems, and set documentation standards for fiber assignments, splices, and cross-connects.
- Improve capacity forecasting, inventory reconciliation, and recurring reporting through repeatable data-analysis workflows and appropriate automation.
Cross-Functional Coordination
- Design & Engineering and Construction: hand off approved capacity, cabinet, and route requirements, resolve field design issues, and track delivery against plan.
- Permitting: flag permit and right-of-way needs for backbone routes and recommended cabinet locations early, and coordinate on challenging paths.
- Network Operations: share resource and capacity data to support trouble management, restoration, and maintenance, and use performance data to refine forecasts.
- Carriers, colocation providers, and vendors: coordinate interconnection, lease, and capacity requests and track delivery.
- Define implementation acceptance criteria with Design & Engineering and Network Operations; verify delivered capacity, test results, as-built records, and resource assignments, and coordinate formal operational handoff before project closeout. Detailed OSP design remains with Design & Engineering; production configuration and daily operations remain with Network Operations.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Telecommunications, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- 5+ years of experience in telecommunications network planning, backbone or transport design, or capacity management.
- Knowledge of fiber transport, DWDM/CWDM, IP/MPLS, Ethernet, and routing as applied to backbone and interconnection design.
- Experience with capacity forecasting, network growth modeling, resource inventory management, and using network monitoring and performance data to guide planning.
- Proficiency with GIS and inventory platforms (e.g., IQGeo, 3-GIS, VETRO) and AutoCAD, with the ability to create and interpret logical and physical network diagrams.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to present capacity plans and business cases to executive leadership and collaborate across departments.
- Practical FTTH access-network knowledge, including GPON/XGS-PON, OLT uplink and subscriber/port capacity, oversubscription, and the effects of split ratios and optical budgets on network planning.
Comprehensive Benefits & Total Rewards
Health & Well-Being
- Medical, Dental & Vision Coverage
- Supplemental Benefit Options
- Life & Disability Insurance
- Employee Assistance Resources
- Gym Reimbursement up to $600 annually
Time Away from Work
- Paid Weekly
- PTO Accrual Begins Immediately with No Waiting Period
- 13 Company-Paid Holidays Annually
Financial Wellness
- 401(k) with Company Match up to 5%
Additional Perks
- Cell Phone Reimbursement up to $50 per month
- Annual Boot Reimbursement up to $150 (field positions)
- Ongoing Leadership Training
TEAM-ORIENTED CULTURE
We've built a culture where employees are respected, supported, and empowered to succeed. We value collaboration, accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, professional growth, and recognition.
BUILD SOMETHING BIGGER
Join Wecom and help build the infrastructure connecting Arizona's communities today and for generations to come.
NOTE: Wecom (and its subsidiaries) complies with all Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). Wecom does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, religion, color, national origin, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, veteran status, pregnancy status or other status protected by law.
Company benefits subject to change. www.wecomfiber.com