Data Center Infrastructure Architect

Responsibilities

Logical / Physical Mapping

• Break down DCN logical port maps (TOR, spine, super-spine, DCI) into physical cross-connect and patching schedules.
• Automate port-to-fiber mapping at scale (100K+ ports per site).

Fiber Plant Design

• Define cassette types (MTP/MPO Base-8/12/16), trunk counts, and structured cabling hierarchy.
• Plan cassette placement within racks, rows, and meet-me-rooms.
• Model fiber utilization and overbuild for 2–3 hardware generations.

Optics / Transceiver Planning

• Select optics (400G/800G DR4, FR4, LR4, SR8, coherent DCI) based on reach and loss budget.
• Validate interoperability across vendors and generations.
• Maintain loss budget and margin models for every link type.

Structured Cabling & Physical Implementation

• Define patching architectures (direct MPO vs. breakout vs. mid-span).
• Ensure pathways (ladder racks, underfloor, ODFs) scale with fiber density.
• Establish standards for labeling, documentation, and change management.

Scalability & Lifecycle Management

• Build modular designs for pod/rack growth.
• Anticipate transition to higher-speed optics (e.g., 400G → 800G → 1.6T).
• Integrate with DCIM (NetBox, custom tools) to track strands, ports, and patching.

Requirements

• Proven experience designing hyperscale or cloud provider data center networks (1000+ racks, 100K+ fiber strands).
• Expert in structured cabling systems (Corning, Panduit, CommScope) and MPO/MTP ecosystems.
• Deep knowledge of optical standards (IEEE 802.3, OIF) and transceiver technologies (400G/800G DR4, FR4, LR4, SR8).
• Strong grasp of fiber loss budgets, dispersion, and testing methodologies (OTDR, insertion loss, polarity verification).
• Experience integrating designs into DCIM tools (NetBox, Remedy, custom hyperscaler equivalents).

Compensation

Base Salary Range: $200,000 - $300,000 per year, depending on experience, skills, qualifications, and location. Total compensation may include equity in the form of stock options.