Optical Network Engineer Jobs in Dallas, TX (NOW HIRING)

Hybrid Role - Requiring 3 days/week onsite
Role Overview
The Senior Network Architect is a senior individual contributor in the Network Engineering organization, responsible for hands-on design and engineering of major network domains including backbone, metro fabrics, peering, and interconnection.
A significant amount of focus goes to the inter-metro backbone program and carrier hotel expansion, detailed design, configuration standards, stitching implementation, peering and interconnection design, and implementation support. The remaining time will focus on resiliency, security design, network hygiene, contributions to standards and reference architectures, input into the long-range technology roadmap, and Tier-3 escalation support. Output is always specific and tangible. Design documents, low-level designs, MOPs, gap analyses, and clear technical specifications for the engineering and automation teams.
Key Responsibilities
Inter-Metro Backbone & Carrier Hotel Expansion
Contribute to the detailed design and deployment of the multi-metro SR/MPLS backbone, including EVPN/VXLAN-to-MPLS stitching, traffic engineering, TI-LFA fast-reroute, capacity planning, and resiliency design. Execute carrier hotel build-outs in priority US markets for the purpose of implementing transport connectivity, SR/MPLS stitching, and peering designs in collaboration with the Optical Architect. Produce design documents, MOPs, SOPs, and operational runbooks required for backbone deployment and ongoing operations.
Peering, Interconnection & Service Definition
Design and implement peering and interconnection deployments within the established peering policy. IXP turn-ups, BGP peering configuration, public and private peering, route server integration, and cloud on-ramp design (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect, OCI FastConnect). Translate service definitions into deployable designs and provide technical input to the Network Automation Engineer and Portal team on provisioning requirements.
Reliability, Security & Standards
Design and implement components of the carrier-grade resiliency architecture targeting 99.999% availability: failure domain modeling, redundancy, fast-reroute, and protection switching. Implement zero-trust security designs, DDoS mitigation (RTBH, Flowspec, scrubbing integration), and macro/micro-segmentation within EVPN/VXLAN tenants. Participate in architecture reviews of major proposed changes and contribute to reference architectures and configuration standards.
Technology Evaluation & Automation Input
Provide technical input into the long-range network technology roadmap owned by the Sr. Director of Network Engineering; informing decisions on what gets built, replaced, or deferred within the candidate's domain of expertise. Participate in vendor and platform evaluations, conduct proofs-of-concept, and assess emerging technologies (SRv6, AI-assisted operations, next-generation coherent optical) as assigned. For automation and observability, work closely with the Network Automation Engineer as a technically informed internal customer: contribute provisioning logic requirements, SR policy specifications, and observability needs grounded in real operational experience.
Network Hygiene & Continuous Improvement
Proactively audit existing configurations, routing policies, and operational data to identify latent issues, configuration drift, inconsistencies with standards, and improvement opportunities. Hunt for the misconfiguration that hasn't caused an outage yet, the suboptimal design that's been quietly tolerated, the metric trend that hints at a problem six months out. Document findings, propose specific remediation with supporting evidence, and partner with Network Operations and Automation teams to drive fixes. Treat the existing brownfield network as a system to be deeply understood, not just operated.
Technical Leadership & Escalation
Serve as Tier-3 escalation for complex production issues across backbone, metro fabrics, optical transport, and carrier hotel connectivity. Mentor mid-level engineers through design reviews and direct technical collaboration. Participate in architecture review boards and contribute to knowledge-sharing on backbone technologies, SR/MPLS, peering, security design, and automation patterns.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Non-Negotiable

• 10-12+ years of progressive network engineering experience, with 3-5+ years at senior network engineer or architect level in a service-provider, carrier-neutral data center, or hyperscale environment.
• Production-proven expertise in EVPN/VXLAN fabric design at data-center scale and expert-level MPLS mastery including SR-MPLS and SRv6 (traffic engineering, flex-algo, TI-LFA, BGP-CT).
• Deep BGP experience: route reflectors, confederations, complex policy design, multi-protocol BGP (EVPN, labeled unicast, Flowspec), and large-scale routing table management.
• Hands-on experience contributing to the design and deployment of multi-metro or service-provider backbone networks, including EVPN-to-MPLS stitching, inter-domain connectivity, and carrier hotel or IXP integration.
• Direct experience with internet peering and interconnection: IXP participation, BGP peering policy, public and private peering architecture, and route server integration.
• Cloud on-ramp design experience: AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect, or equivalent integrated into a backbone routing domain.
• Working knowledge of network security architecture: BGP control plane security, RPKI/ROA, DDoS mitigation (RTBH, Flowspec), and macro/micro-segmentation within EVPN/VXLAN.
• Sufficient depth in network automation and NetDevOps to provide precise, actionable requirements to an automation engineer: provisioning logic, SR policy management, EVPN service state, and zero-touch provisioning goals.
• Strong written and verbal communication: clear, well-structured design documents and the ability to present technical trade-offs to engineering leadership.

Preferred

• Direct experience at a carrier-neutral colocation or interconnection provider with responsibility for peering infrastructure, customer connectivity, or backbone architecture.
• Background at a major service provider, hyperscaler, or CDN with backbone or interconnection scope.
• Expert-level certification: CCIE (RS, SP, or DC track), JNCIE-SP, or JNCIE-DC.
• Experience with AI/HPC fabric design and lossless transport requirements for GPU clusters.

Ideal Candidate Profile
The right person for this role has hands-on experience designing and deploying production backbone or interconnection networks. They have worked on carrier hotel buildouts, configured peering sessions, implemented EVPN-to-MPLS stitching, written MOPs, and been on the bridge when things went wrong at 2am. They have direct operational experience supporting networks targeting high-availability SLAs and have seen how carrier-neutral operators or service providers run their interconnection infrastructure.
They are intellectually curious about the network they inherit. They read configurations for fun, audit routing tables on their own initiative, and dig through operational data because they want to understand what's there, not just what the diagram says is there. They take quiet satisfaction in finding the bug nobody else noticed, the timer that's been wrong since 2022, the prefix-list that drifted between sites. They surface latent issues with evidence and proposed fixes, not just observations.
They are technically precise in everything they produce and willing to defend positions with data and engineering principles. They write clearly. They take direction well, work independently within a defined scope, and surface issues early. They understand automation well enough to articulate clear requirements to an automation engineer. They mentor mid-level engineers through direct technical exchange and design reviews.
This employer will not sponsor visas for this role.
Csquare is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
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