Principal Engineer Global NPI

The Principal Engineer, Customer Advocacy Engineering (CAE), is a senior individual contributor who provides technical leadership for Global New Product Introduction across optical networking products and solutions. The role drives product quality, serviceability, and customer experience from concept through First Customer Ship (FCS) and General Availability (GA) by translating field and customer needs into actionable engineering requirements. Working across Technical Support, Product Line Management, Hardware and Software Engineering, System Test, Services, and customers, the Principal Engineer serves as a trusted technical authority for product readiness, onboarding, and complex issue resolution. You have Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in electrical engineering, Electronics, Telecommunications, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field. 10+ years of relevant industry experience in Optical Networking, Technical Support, Product Introduction, System Test, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline, including demonstrated leadership of complex cross-functional technical initiatives. Deep knowledge of long-haul and/or metro optical networks, with strong experience in customer onboarding, product introduction, deployment readiness, and critical escalation resolution. Proven ability to influence architecture, engineering, product management, quality, services, and support organizations without formal authority, using sound technical judgment and evidence-based recommendations. Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication, presentation, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to engineering teams, customers, and senior leaders. Nice to have Hands-on exposure to automation and management technologies such as Python, SDN, NETCONF, gNMI, OpenROADM, SNMP, network management systems, and domain or network controllers. Experience developing serviceability requirements, readiness frameworks, operational metrics, technical training, or reusable deployment and troubleshooting practices. Relevant optical networking, systems engineering, automation, cloud, or project/program leadership