As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.
Ready to take your design experience from the lab and into the real world? The Ciena Interconnects Product Applications Engineering team is growing to build on our success. We are a multi-disciplined team with extensive design experience, and are a great fit for an experienced design engineer looking to expand their view and scope.
About the role:
Step into a highly technical, hands-on role at the center of Ciena’s industry-leading coherent optical module and components business. This position blends deep engineering expertise with direct customer engagement, giving you the opportunity to shape next-generation interconnect solutions while solving real-world integration challenges in the lab and alongside major global content providers. Customers partner with Ciena for mission-critical data communication, our innovative technologies, and proven track record. Together, we enable the next generation of interconnect technologies. This is an onsite role in our Kanata, ON office.
How you will make an impact:
· Work alongside and lead technical guidance with Product Line Management (PLM) to support design wins and clearly articulate Ciena’s module and component technologies.
· Develop reference designs (hardware and software) and define API suites that accelerate customer integration.
· Facilitate technical working sessions with customer engineering teams, documenting issues and driving timely resolution.
· Perform lab testing to reproduce customer issues and collaborate with R&D to find solutions.
· Deliver on-site customer support as needed to troubleshoot and expedite integration activities.
· Build and execute product demos or evaluation boards to showcase Ciena solutions for customers and at industry events.
The Must Haves:
· 8+ years of design experience in a relevant discipline (hardware, embedded software, optics or system integration) and ideally this experience is in optical/electrical module technologies.
· Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical capability through first-product bring-up.
· Strong communication and teamwork skills in fast-paced technical environments.
· Proven ability to collaborate effectively across engineering and customer-facing teams.
Nice to Haves:
· Knowledge of optical module components such as lasers, digital signal processors (DSPs), transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), and optical receivers.
· Experience with high-speed DSP-based electrical serializer/deserializer (SerDes) architectures.
· Previous customer-facing engineering experience with a strong customer-first mindset.
· Experience writing datasheets, software API guides, or application notes.
· Masters / PhD in Computer Science or Electrical / Computer Engineering.
Pay Range: The annual pay range for this position is $112, 300 - $179, 300
Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting our diverse products, industries, and lines of business. Please note that the pay range information provided in this posting pertains specifically to the primary location, which is the top location listed in case multiple locations are available.
Non-Sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus, while Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission. In addition to competitive compensation, Ciena offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time. We also comply with all applicable laws regarding Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.
At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.
Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of design experience in hardware, embedded software, optics or system integration
- Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical capability through first-product bring-up
- Strong communication and teamwork skills in fast-paced technical environments
- Proven ability to collaborate effectively across engineering and customer-facing teams
Ciena Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Ciena and has not been reviewed or approved by Ciena.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is often characterized as competitive or above-market in certain roles and regions, with references to market-aligned salary ranges and transparency around pay bands.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is frequently framed as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision, with indications that coverage can extend to dependents and is viewed as a meaningful component of total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are described as flexible and generous, including Flex/uncapped PTO in many cases and additional paid time for volunteering.
Ciena Insights
What We Do
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the world’s most adaptive networks to enable our customers to deliver richer, more connected experiences for all users. At our core, Ciena is a company rooted in people. We prioritize deep, collaborative relationships within our teams and alongside our customers, partners, and communities around the world. For three-plus decades, we’ve brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. We continue to lead the evolution of networking with a strong track record of industry firsts. As end-user expectations skyrocket, our customers and their networks must transform. Ciena powers this transformation by driving next-generation solutions built for maximum openness and agility—today and into the future. Corporate/Brand Values: • Customer First • Integrity • Velocity • Innovation • Outstanding People We're the perfect size for you to make an impact. W Only Ciena has the depth of expertise and the culture of collaboration and partnership required to help our partners evolve. We do this by strategically integrating hardware, services, and software in an open environment to ensure our clients’ networks are ‘fit for flexibility’ today and into the f
Why Work With Us
We are known for our industry-firsts, including the first coherent optical solution, converged packet-optical platform, and intelligence automation platform. Our commitment extends beyond innovation, logging in over 35,000 volunteer hours and $2 million to worthy causes in 2023. We're the perfect size and culture for you to make a difference.
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