Job Title: Datacenter Fiber Specialist Location: AMER Regional Metros Job Type: 12+ Months contract (Possible Extension) Reports To: Senior Program Manager (AMER Region) - Washington DC metro
- Blue Ridge / Manassas, VA
- Boydton, VA
- Des Moines, IA
- Chicago, IL
- San Antonio, TX
- Phoenix, AZ
- San Jose/Bay Area, CA
- Quincy, WA
Overview: - The Datacenter Fiber Specialist will be responsible for ensuring the integrity, performance, and security of Microsoft's fiber optic network within datacenter operations.
- This role will focus on fiber delivery, troubleshooting, maintenance, and testing to support critical deployments, fiber-related break-fix operations, and network expansion.
- The specialist will provide up to 40 hours per week of expertise during regular business hours, working collaboratively with Microsoft engineering teams, third-party fiber providers, and internal deployment teams to maintain optimal fiber network operations.
Key Responsibilities: 1. Fiber Management & Maintenance
- Prevent fiber cuts, degradation, and outages by proactively monitoring and maintaining the fiber infrastructure.
- Perform regular fiber inspections, cleaning, and testing to ensure operational integrity.
- Educate and coach Microsoft full-time employees on fiber maintenance and best practices.
- Collaborate with suppliers, partners, technicians, and customers to coordinate fiber delivery and management.
- Oversee leased and Microsoft-owned fiber to ensure defect-free and on-time delivery of customer capacity.
- Plan and manage fiber logistics, infrastructure, and resources required for new data center expansions.
- Manage vendor/partner relationships, contracts, and service level agreements (SLAs) for fiber-related operations.
- Provide root cause analysis (RCA), lessons learned, and best practice recommendations to improve fiber operations.
2. Fiber Deployment & Testing:
- Conduct end-to-end fiber testing to validate new installations and troubleshoot existing infrastructure.
- Perform optical loss testing, OTDR analysis, insertion loss measurements, reflectance tests, and return loss evaluations.
- Ensure all fiber test equipment is calibrated and certified within the past 12 months.
- Generate detailed reports of fiber test results in raw and PDF formats for Microsoft engineering teams.
- Conduct fiber splicing activities to support break-fix operations and deployment needs (bulk splicing excluded).
- Serve as a remote hands expert for Microsoft engineering teams and third-party fiber providers.
3. Data Center Hygiene & Compliance:
- Inspect fiber paths, patch panels, racks, and ports for proper cleanliness and organization.
- Perform remediation tasks such as cable management, labeling updates, and quality assurance measures.
- Trace optical jumpers along circuit pathways to verify quality and eliminate congestion or potential damage.
- Ensure adherence to industry safety codes, regulations, and best practices for fiber optic installations.
4. Change Management & Troubleshooting
- Support fiber-related change management activities, including testing and validation of network modifications.
- Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for fiber-related changes within carrier hotels, meet-me rooms, and leased facilities.
- Troubleshoot and restore fiber outages, working closely with Microsoft remote engineering teams.
- Implement disaster recovery procedures for fiber-related incidents in enterprise environments.
Required Qualifications: - High School Diploma or equivalent with 3+ years of experience supporting fiber optic networks or large-scale deployments.
- Ability to pass Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire and every two years thereafter.
- Strong knowledge of fiber optics, dark and lit fiber networks, OTDR testing, and fiber maintenance.
- Experience in fiber optic splicing, testing, and documentation in field service environments.
- Understanding of data center infrastructure, including servers, networking, and rack enclosures.
- Proficiency with fiber testing tools, such as fusion splicers, OTDRs, power meters, and fiber identifiers.
- Ability to read and interpret fiber optic maps, schematics, and test results.
- Willingness to travel and respond to fiber-related issues as needed.
Preferred Qualifications: - Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Telecommunications, Business Management, or related field.
- 10+ years of experience in mission-critical fiber operations within large-scale environments.
- 10+ years of experience working with dark and lit fiber providers.
- 10+ years of experience in aerial and underground fiber delivery.
- 5+ years of experience in outside plant (OSP) and inside plant (ISP) fiber installation, management, and maintenance.
- Expertise in fiber splicing, troubleshooting, and documentation.
- Background in fiber network design, construction, and best practices.
- Knowledge of fiber supply chain, asset management, and logistics.
- IT service operations experience with ITIL, MOF, SLA/OLA frameworks.
- Familiarity with Microsoft Cloud Services and Platforms (Azure, Office 365, etc.