Field Applications Engineer

Ciena is a global leader in high-speed connectivity, committed to a people-first approach. They are seeking a Field Applications Engineer to ensure the successful introduction and adoption of their next-generation Data Center Out-of-Band Management solution, working closely with customers and internal teams.

Responsibilities:

• 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

Requirements:

• 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.)
• 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