Principal Systems Architect – Layer0 NE Software

As part of Nokia’s Optical Architecture group, you will have a unique opportunity to shape the design of novel DWDM optical line systems. You will architect their Layer0 network element (NE) software in collaboration with our Systems Architecture, Systems Engineering and Software Development teams.
Working from business requirements, customer use cases and industry standards (such as ITU-T and IEEE), you will make and document trade-offs among cost, function, capacity and performance for network elements such as ROADMs and optical amplifiers.

In this role, you will own the requirements and architecture of assigned Layer0 NE software feature areas, and be accountable for their technical success from concept through release. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Shaping product features and requirements with Product Line Management, and recommending solutions to new feature requests based on feasibility, cost and risk

• Owning the system requirements, architecture specifications and acceptance criteria for these feature areas, and guiding development teams through implementation and validation

• Driving the software architecture of these feature areas with fellow architects and development leads, including interfaces, data models and control algorithms

• Partnering with the product documentation team to describe features and operational concepts for customers

• Leading cross-functional feature teams to build consensus on architecture and technical concepts, and influencing their plans and priorities

• Representing these feature areas in technical engagements with key customers

• Assessing field issues in these feature areas when called upon by customer support teams

• Mentoring engineers and architects on the team

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

• Deep understanding of DWDM line system fundamentals, including amplifiers, ROADMs, power control and OSNR

• Extensive experience defining fault, performance and configuration management, service provisioning and control plane requirements for multi-layer networking products, especially at L0 and L1

• Experience with optical networking technologies and standards, including ROADM/WSS, OTN, Ethernet and SDN/GMPLS control plane

• Experience designing and validating link-level control algorithms and optical performance monitoring to optimize end-to-end transmission

• Working knowledge of data models for operating and monitoring optical networks, including YANG, ONF TAPI, OpenROADM and OpenConfig

• Familiarity with the SONiC Optical Transport Network Working Group, including the Optical Transport Abstraction Interface (OTAI)

• Familiarity with AI tools, such as large language models (LLMs) and agents, and their use in product specification and development

• Broad systems expertise, with a track record of writing and leading high-quality requirements and architecture specifications for robust, reliable end-to-end systems

• Sound, independent judgment on ambiguous and novel technical problems

• Excellent communication and presentation skills for internal and customer audiences

• Highly motivated collaborator, effective in cross-functional, cross-cultural and international teams

Education & Experience Requirements:

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications or a related field + minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in optical transport or a related telecommunications area

• M.Sc. in the same fields + minimum 8 years of relevant work experience in optical transport or a related telecommunications area