Network Engineer, Backbone Operations

Meta is seeking a senior Network Engineer to support the strategy, deployment, and operational excellence of one of the world's largest backbone networks. In this role, you will provide technical leadership across both Outside Plant (OSP) and Inside Plant (ISP) critical infrastructure, driving the planning, scaling, and reliability of Meta's global backbone. You will apply deep subject matter expertise spanning long-haul optical transport, fiber plant design, and ILA critical infrastructure to cross-functional initiatives that shape how Meta's backbone network evolves to meet the demands of billions of users worldwide. This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role for a senior engineer who thrives on solving complex, large-scale network challenges across the full infrastructure stack.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across OSP (Outside Plant) and ISP (Inside Plant) infrastructure domains, including long-haul fiber routes, optical transport systems, and ILA critical infrastructure
• Lead the deployment and operationalization of backbone fiber network infrastructure, including long-haul and metro optical transport across global points of presence and data centers
• Develop and drive strategies and roadmaps for backbone network scaling, reliability, and operational efficiency across cross-functional teams
• Author and review engineering design packages, methods of procedure, and scope of work documentation for both OSP fiber construction and ISP ILA critical infrastructure deployment projects
• Identify systemic reliability gaps in backbone operations and lead problem management initiatives that span network engineering, infrastructure, and vendor organizations
• Align workflow management tooling requirements and drive automation roadmaps to reduce manual operational burden across backbone deployment and support activities
• Manage vendor and partner engineering relationships for backbone hardware, optical transport, and fiber construction, including contract negotiations and technical evaluation of current and prospective partnerships
• Develop and maintain comprehensive technical documentation for backbone network architecture, operational procedures, and deployment standards
• Contribute to organizational strategy by providing input on backbone network capacity planning, technology selection, and team scaling to meet projected traffic demands
• Drive operational readiness for backbone infrastructure projects, ensuring seamless handoffs from deployment to production operations across data centers, points of presence, and colocation facilities

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 8+ years of experience deploying, operating, and troubleshooting large-scale backbone or service provider optical network infrastructure
• Experience with both OSP (Outside Plant) infrastructure including long-haul fiber routes and construction, and ISP (Inside Plant) infrastructure including ILA critical infrastructure systems
• Experience configuring and troubleshooting optical transport technologies such as DWDM
• Experience leading cross-functional network deployment or migration projects, including authoring engineering design packages, methods of procedure, and bills of materials
• Experience managing vendor relationships and driving technical evaluations for backbone network hardware and transport platforms
• Experience developing and implementing operational improvements, including automation or tooling to streamline backbone network workflows

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated use of AI tools to redesign operational workflows, accelerate troubleshooting, or improve documentation quality with measurable efficiency outcomes
• Network certifications such as CCIE, JNCIE, or equivalent in service provider or optical transport domains
• Demonstrated experience leading technical strategy across integrated OSP/ISP infrastructure programs
• Experience with scripting or automation tools such as Python to streamline backbone operations, configuration management, or network telemetry workflows
• Experience with traffic engineering in large-scale backbone environments
• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies

$162,000/year to $227,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits