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Senior Staff Optics Engineer, Network Qualification & Strategy
CrusoeSan Francisco, CA · full time · Senior
$250,000 – $300,000
Listed on Crusoe’s own careers site. You apply with them directly — we never stand between you and the employer.
What this role is
Crusoe seeks a senior optical architect to design and build their global optical network backbone from the ground up, spanning data center interconnect to long-haul DWDM systems that will carry AI training traffic between campuses. This role is for someone with deep production DWDM experience at hyperscale who can turn platform expertise into strategy, vendor partnerships, and multi-year roadmaps as the company scales from multi-terabit to hundreds-of-terabit capacity.
Our summary, not Crusoe’s wording. The full posting is on their site.
What they ask for
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or related technical field
- 12+ years in optical transport networking
- 5+ years as architect or senior technical lead designing production DWDM networks at service provider, hyperscaler, or cloud scale
- Deep hands-on expertise with optical platforms including design, commissioning, and troubleshooting
- Strong optical fundamentals including OSNR, power budgets, amplification, dispersion, nonlinear impairments, and flex-grid spectrum planning
- Experience with coherent technologies including 400ZR/ZR+, 800ZR, and embedded transponders
- Proven track record defining optical network architecture and roadmap from early stage through scale
- Experience leading vendor evaluations, RFPs, and technical negotiations
- Clear written and verbal communication for engineering, procurement, and executive stakeholders
Nice to have
- Master's degree in related field
- Experience building DCI or backbone networks for AI/ML or hyperscale data center environments
- Experience with open and disaggregated optical systems, OpenROADM, or multi-vendor interoperability
- Experience automating optical networks with NETCONF/YANG, OpenConfig, gNMI, or TAPI
- Experience with dark fiber acquisition, IRU negotiations, or long-haul route engineering
- Vendor certifications such as Ciena OC-P or Nokia Optical Network Professional
- Participation in OIF, IEEE 802.3, or OpenROADM MSA