[Hiring] Field Applications Engineer @Ciena

Role Description

We are seeking a Field Applications Engineer (FAE) to join the Data Center PON Solutions product team. The FAE will ensure the successful introduction and adoption of our next-generation Data Center Out-of-Band Management solution targeted at hyperscalers. This role sits at the intersection of customer architecture and engineering, Ciena R&D, and product management. You will be working in Ciena and customer labs to validate and integrate our platform, feeding critical insights back to R&D, and guiding the product team to deliver a solution that precisely meets the most demanding hyperscaler requirements.

This is a hands-on technical role where success is measured by the speed and quality of customer acceptance, smooth integration into their infrastructure, and the ability to influence product direction with real-world feedback.

How You Will Contribute:

• Hands-on testing and integration of Data Center Out-of-Band Management solutions in Ciena’s lab facilities and in hyperscaler customer environments.
• Troubleshoot technical issues in real-time and provide strategic guidance to clients.
• Document deployment architectures, operational procedures, and best practices.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including Ciena product, R&D, and account teams to define customer requirements for PON-based Out-of-band management solutions in Data Center applications.
• Responsible for internal Project Management of key technical tasks and deliverables to align with customer-driven evaluation and integration schedules.
• Configure, validate, and troubleshoot the end-to-end DCOM solution in customer environments.
• Support technical engagements with hyperscaler customers during lab evaluations, proof-of-concepts, and pilots.
• Translate customer requirements and observations into actionable feedback for Ciena R&D and product management.
• Provide input into roadmap decisions, feature prioritization, and usability improvements.
• Validate best practices, operational runbooks, and customer integration workflows.
• Validate automated SDN provisioning solutions in hyperscaler DCOM environments.
• Measure operational performance under real-world workloads.
• Provide troubleshooting across management plane, control plane, and data plane layers.
• Train internal FAEs, account teams, and customer operations teams on the new platform.
• Ensure compliance with customer-specific lab and production certification standards.

Qualifications

• Engineering degree or equivalent experience.
• 5+ Experience in Field Application Engineering or similar roles (customer-facing with deep technical integration).
• Hands-on experience with hyperscaler or broadband service provider networks.
• Familiarity with OMCI Provisioning of PON FTTx solutions.
• Knowledge of hyperscaler network operations, test methodologies, and tooling.
• Experience relative to the design and architecture of embedded Linux systems including docker containers, Linux kernel, TCP/IP stack, Forwarding Tables, VLANs.
• Experience working with UNIX/Linux/RHEL/Ubuntu and/or any other server OS, be it on bare metal and/or Virtual Machine, and system admin functions.
• Familiarity with open networking or cloud-native networking projects (OpenConfig, gNMI/gNOI/g*, SONiC, etc.).
• Familiarity with any of the following data center / SP routing platforms (Arista 7800, Juniper PTX10K, Cisco 8800, Nokia IXR SRL, etc.).

Requirements

• Ability to act as a liaison between customer engineering teams and internal R&D.
• Excellent communication and client-facing skills, conveying technical issues precisely and accurately.
• Comfortable balancing short-term customer demands with long-term product goals.
• Ability to travel as needed to support client engagements.
• Experience working with strategic account environments.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time.
• Compliance with all applicable laws regarding Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.