Optical Line System / Optical Pluggable NE SDE

Title: Technology Architect Optical Line System / Optical Pluggable NE Software Development Engineer

Job Location: Anywhere in USA
Work Arrangement: Remote; travel may be required based on client location
Interview: Client interview required
Job Type: Full-time

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Optical Line System / Optical Pluggable Network Element Software Development Engineer to design, develop, and integrate software for next-generation optical network elements, optical line systems, optical pluggables, and coherent optical systems.

The role involves embedded and system software development, Device Abstraction Layer (DAL), Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), hardware-interface software, optical line system control, pluggable module management, telemetry, management-plane interfaces, and optical-domain software integration.

The engineer will collaborate closely with optics, hardware, firmware, software, system architecture, and test teams to develop reliable software for EDFAs, Raman amplifiers, ROADMs, WSS, photodiodes, sensors, coherent modems, and optical pluggables.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop embedded and system software using C/C++; MATLAB exposure is beneficial for modeling and analysis.
• Develop Optical Line System (OLS) software primarily using C.
• Build Device Abstraction Layer and Hardware Abstraction Layer components.
• Develop software interfaces for I2C, SPI, MDIO, EEPROM, sensors, pluggables, and optical components.
• Develop EDFA and Raman amplifier control functions, including gain control, Automatic Power Control (APC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), power balancing, alarm monitoring, safety shutdown, and protection switching.
• Support ROADM and optical line-system functions, including spectrum allocation, path computation, flex-grid provisioning, and real-time reconfiguration.
• Develop optical pluggable software supporting CMIS/SFF interfaces, DDM/DOM monitoring, module state management, firmware upgrades, and power-class management.
• Support optical topology modeling, path computation, impairment-aware routing, and optical power-management algorithms.
• Work with coherent optical modulation and performance concepts including QPSK, DP-QPSK, BPSK, QAM variants, baud rate, spectral efficiency, BER, and FEC.
• Validate optical performance using laboratory equipment such as Optical Spectrum Analyzers, optical power meters, oscilloscopes, VOAs, optical switches, wave shapers, tunable lasers, and traffic generators.
• Collaborate with hardware, firmware, optics, system engineering, and test teams throughout the software development lifecycle.

Required Skills

Programming

• Strong programming experience in C/C++.
• MATLAB exposure is an advantage, particularly for modeling and analysis.

Embedded/System Software

• Experience with Embedded Linux.
• Experience developing drivers, firmware, user-space software, Device Abstraction Layers, Hardware Abstraction Layers, or system software.

Hardware Interfaces

• Strong knowledge of I2C, SPI, MDIO, and EEPROM.
• PCIe experience where applicable.
• Experience interfacing with sensors and optical pluggable modules.

Optical Line Systems

Strong experience with one or more of the following:

• DWDM
• Fiber-optic transmission
• OSNR
• Dispersion
• Optical nonlinearities
• Optical gain and tilt
• EDFA
• Raman amplification
• ROADM
• WSS
• Optical transport

Optical Pluggables

Experience with optical transceiver technologies such as:

• SFP / SFP+
• SFP28
• QSFP28
• QSFP-DD
• OSFP
• ZR / ZR+
• CMIS / SFF
• DOM / DDM
• Transceiver firmware
• Optical module lifecycle management

Optical Domain Requirement

Candidates must have experience in at least one of the following areas:

• Optical Line Systems (OLS), or
• Optical Pluggables

Candidates without experience in either Optical Line Systems or Optical Pluggables should not be considered.

Preferred Skills

Coherent Optical Technologies

• QPSK
• DP-QPSK
• BPSK
• 8QAM
• 16QAM
• 32QAM
• 64QAM
• Baud rate
• Constellation
• BER
• Pre-FEC / Post-FEC
• Spectral efficiency

Control Systems & Algorithms

• PID control
• Automatic Power Control (APC)
• Automatic Gain Control (AGC)
• Optical power balancing
• Path computation
• Protection switching

Lab & Test Automation

• Optical Spectrum Analyzer
• Optical power meters
• VOA
• Optical switches
• Wave shapers
• Traffic generators
• Python
• Pytest automation

Qualifications

• Strong experience in embedded, system, firmware, or network-element software development.
• Demonstrated experience working with optical networking technologies and/or optical pluggable systems.
• Strong understanding of hardware/software interfaces and low-level system integration.
• Ability to work collaboratively across hardware, optics, firmware, software, architecture, and validation teams.
• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills.