QA Lab Engineer

Summary:

VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) has a 100+ year history of technical innovations that have evolved to keep pace and address our customers’ most pressing business issues. We make equipment, software, and systems that help to plan, deploy, certify, monitor, and optimize all kinds of networks - like those for mobile phones, service providers, large businesses and data centers. VIAVI is also a leader in high performance thin film optical coatings and engineered diffusers, providing light management solutions to anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, automotive, defense and instrumentation markets.
We are the people behind the products that help keep the world connected – at home, school, work, at play, and everywhere in between. VIAVI employees are fierce about supporting customer success and we welcome people who bring their best every day to the company - to question, to collaborate and to push for solutions that will delight our customers.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Plan, build, and maintain high-speed Ethernet test beds (100G/ 400G / 800G / 1.6T) using Viavi TestCenter and OneLabPro traffic generation equipment.

• Install, configure, and maintain DUT routers and switches from big network equipment manufacturers.

• Manage lab infrastructure including rack space, power distribution units (PDUs), and cooling capacity planning.

• Coordinate with facilities management for power and cooling upgrades when expanding test bed capacity.

• Maintain lab inventory, structured cable management, and up-to-date equipment documentation.

• Execute on-premises QA test campaigns that require direct physical equipment access and hands-on setup.

• Collaborate with QA engineers to replicate production-representative test environments.

• Monitor equipment health and manage firmware and software upgrades across lab devices.

• Troubleshoot physical layer connectivity issues including fiber, DAC cables, breakout configurations, and optical transceivers.

• Coordinate equipment procurement, RMA processes, and vendor support cases.

Pre-Requisites / Skills / Experience Requirements:

• Degree in network engineering, IT infrastructure, communications technology, or comparable hands-on experience.

• Minimum B2 German and fluent English.

• Hands-on experience racking, cabling, and operating high-speed Ethernet switching and routing equipment (Cisco, Juniper, or Arista).

• Familiarity with 100G/400G/800G interconnect technologies (QSFP-DD, OSFP, DAC, AOC, breakout cables).

• Understanding of OSI/TCP-IP networking concepts through Layer 3.

• Basic understanding of data center power and cooling concepts (PDU sizing, hot/cold aisle containment).

• Working knowledge of Python for lab automation scripting and basic test execution.

• Ability to analyze test case failures and examine log files to identify root causes.

• Experience with hypervisor platforms (VMware ESXi/vSphere or KVM) for virtual test environment support is a plus.

• Working knowledge of Jira for tracking lab tasks, issues, and equipment requests.

• Structured, systematic approach to lab documentation and change management.

• Flexibility, enthusiasm, and willingness to take on hands-on technical challenges daily.

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