Principal Optical Engineer

We are seeking an experienced Principal Optical Engineer to join Nokia's optical team. You will own calibration, sustaining, and optical integration for our high-speed coherent linecard products—supporting the current generation in development and production, while helping define methods and practices for the next generation of coherent optics.
You will work across prototypes/EVB bring-up, linecard integration, manufacturing enablement, and ongoing performance sustainment, partnering with DSP, hardware, firmware, test, and manufacturing teams.
 

• Own optical (and related electro-optic) calibration architecture, procedures, and tooling for coherent modules/linecards across development, NPI, and manufacturing; correlate calibration results with system KPIs (e.g. BER/FEC margin, OSNR tolerance, EVM/Q).
• Lead sustaining for optical performance: production/yield issues, field returns, failure analysis support, root-cause analysis, and durable corrective actions with cross-functional owners.
• Drive optical integration from first prototypes/EVB through linecard integration and manufacturing process enablement; develop and document bring-up and optimization flows that scale from lab to factory.
• Analyze test and calibration data; produce clear reports with findings, risk assessment, and recommendations.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design, debug, and optimize coherent optical performance; troubleshoot system issues to maintain performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Contribute calibration/integration learnings from the current product generation into next-generation coherent platforms.
• Serve as a technical leader and mentor for optical engineers; communicate status, risks, and trade-offs to project leads and management.
• Stay current with advancements in coherent optics and fiber communications and apply relevant methods to team practice.
  
   

You have:

• Master's or Ph.D. in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field—or equivalent industry experience.
• Minimum of 7+ years of experience in optical engineering, with a focus on high-speed optical systems / coherent transceivers / linecards.
• Proven expertise in optical calibration, sustaining/debug, and/or optical integration of coherent modules or linecards.
• Strong knowledge of optical components, systems, and coherent transmission technologies.
• In-depth understanding of coherent transceivers and DSP blocks at Tx & Rx (e.g. pre-emphasis, equalization, carrier phase recovery, timing recovery, QAM modulation) and how they interact with calibration and optical front-end behavior.
• Hands-on experience characterizing and troubleshooting high-speed coherent optics with lab equipment such as OSA, wave/spectrum analyzers, real-time oscilloscopes, optical switches/attenuators, and power meters.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to own issues from first symptom to verified fix. Strong communication and teamwork across optical, DSP, hardware, firmware, test, and manufacturing stakeholders.
• Demonstrated technical leadership or mentoring of engineers (formal or informal) on a shipping or advanced-development optical product.
• Experience in Python coding and object-oriented programming for lab automation, calibration, and data analysis.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Experience taking coherent optics products from prototype → NPI → manufacturing, including factory calibration and yield improvement.
• Familiarity with ODVT / design verification and how calibration gates interact with release criteria.
• Proficiency with optical simulation/modeling tools.
• Familiarity with industry standards (e.g. OIF, IEEE, ITU) for coherent interfaces. Familiarity with Git workflows (GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.).
• Experience with databases or data pipelines for test/calibration data (SQL, NoSQL, or time-series).