Principal Architect, Technology - Transport

This is a remote position. Position Title: Principal Architect, Technology - Transport Base Salary: $155,000 to $230,000 annually DOE Bonus: Target annual bonus Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, flexible spending account, paid sick leave and paid time off, parental leave, quarterly performance bonus, training, career growth and education reimbursement programs. Ziply Fiber is a local internet service provider dedicated to elevating the connected lives of the communities we serve. We offer the fastest home internet in the nation, a refreshingly great customer experience, and affordable plans that put customers in charge. As our state-of-the-art fiber network expands, so does our need for team members who can help us grow and realize our goals. Our Company Values: Genuinely Caring: We treat customers and colleagues like neighbors, with empathy and full attention. Empowering You: We help customers choose what is best for them, and we support employees in implementing new ideas and solutions. Innovation and Improvement: We constantly seek ways to improve how we serve customers and each other. Earning Your Trust: We build trust through clear, honest, human communication. Job Summary Ziply Fiber 's competitive advantage is fiber — and fiber starts with transport. The Principal Architect for Transport is the technical authority for Ziply's physical layer backbone: the dark fiber routes, long-haul rings, DWDM infrastructure, and data center interconnects that carry every bit we deliver. You will define transport topology, drive capacity planning, architect the infrastructure that enables Ziply's expansion into adjacent and edge-out markets and own the co-location strategy that positions us at the right interconnection points across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This is a hands-on senior independent contributor role for a transport architect who thinks in fiber strands, route diversity, and wavelength economics — and who has the project management discipline to take a transport program from route survey through cutover. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: The Essential Duties and Responsibilities listed below are a range of duties performed by the employee and not intended to reflect all duties performed. Dark Fiber & Long-Haul Architecture ●Design and own Ziply's long-haul and regional dark fiber route architecture: ring topology, route diversity, redundancy standards, and failure domain analysis. ●Define fiber route acquisition strategy: IRU evaluation criteria, route survey requirements, and technical due diligence for new fiber agreements. ●Maintain authoritative transport network documentation: route inventories, fiber maps, strand assignments, splice records, and capacity databases. ●Own OTDR testing standards, fiber acceptance criteria, and ongoing plant performance monitoring. DWDM & Optical Layer ●Architect DWDM and coherent optical infrastructure: platform selection (Ciena, Infinera, Nokia, or equivalent), ROADM degree planning, and wavelength engineering for long-haul and metro rings. ●Define optical capacity planning: traffic forecasting, wavelength utilization thresholds, fiber exhaust modeling, and upgrade trigger criteria. ●Own OTN/FlexGrid transport architecture: framing standards, multiplexing hierarchy, and protection switching (OLP, OSNCP, or equivalent). ●Evaluate open line system and disaggregated optical architectures (OpenROADM, OpenConfig optical) for cost and operational fit. Data Center Interconnect & Co-location ●Architect data center interconnect (DCI) strategy: wavelength engineering, low-latency path design, and capacity scaling between Ziply facilities and third-party co-location sites. ●Define co-location strategy: meet-me room presence, cross-connect standards, and third-party peering and transit interconnect infrastructure. ●Manage relationships with co-location providers: SLA governance, capacity planning, and commercial terms aligned to Ziply's network growth roadmap. Market Expansion & Capacity Planning ●Architect transport infrastructure requirements for adjacent market expansion and edge-out programs: route planning, capacity dimensioning, and build sequencing. ●Own transport capacity planning across the network: traffic matrix modeling, link utilization monitoring, and proactive upgrade planning to stay ahead of demand. ●Partner with Network Planning on transport inputs for new market entry decisions: fiber availability, route cost, and build vs. lease analysis. ●Collaborate with IP Core & Metro architects to ensure transport and IP layer integration is optimized for performance, resilience, and cost efficiency. Other Duties ·Performs other duties as required to support the business and evolving organization . Required Qualifications: ·High school diploma or GED. ·Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Telecommunications, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and directly relevant transport architecture experience. ·10+ years of transport network engineering, optical networking, backbone infrastructure, or carrier transport experience within an ISP, CLEC, fiber network operator, telecommunications provider, regional carrier, or similar network-intensive environment.Demonstrated senior independent contributor experience setting transport architecture standards, influencing technical direction, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional architecture decisions without direct people-management responsibility. ·Deep expertise in DWDM/ROADM platforms: Ciena, Infinera, Nokia, or equivalent — architecture, commissioning, and operations of coherent optical systems. ·Strong dark fiber operations background: IRU agreements, fiber route management, OTDR testing, splice documentation, and fiber plant acceptance. ·Experience with transport capacity planning and traffic engineering at regional or national scale: traffic matrix modeling, wavelength utilization, and fiber exhaust forecasting. ·So