---
title: 'Senior Staff Optics Engineer, Network Qualification & Strategy at Crusoe'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-optics-engineer-network-qualification-strategy-crusoe-san-francisco-2drh1n5nwahr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-06'
---

# Senior Staff Optics Engineer, Network Qualification & Strategy at Crusoe

- **Company:** [Crusoe](https://feeny.ai/companies/crusoe)
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA / United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/crusoe/c0733130-91d2-4efc-be0a-0deb87530f16

## Job description

Crusoe is on a mission to accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence. As the only vertically integrated AI infrastructure company built from the ground up, we own and operate each layer of the stack — from electrons to tokens — to power the world's most ambitious AI workloads. When you join Crusoe, you join a team that is building the future, faster.

We're in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of our time. The demand for AI compute is boundless, and power is a bottleneck. We're solving that — with an energy-first approach that makes AI infrastructure better for the world and faster for the people innovating with AI.

We're looking for problem-solving, opportunity-finding teammates with a sense of urgency, who believe in the scale of our ambition and thrive on a path not fully paved — people who want to grow their careers alongside a team of experts across energy, manufacturing, data center construction, and cloud services.

If you want to do the most meaningful work of your career, help our customers and partners advance their AI strategies, and be part of a high-performing team that believes in each other, come build with us at Crusoe.

About This Role: Crusoe is building the physical and software backbone that powers the world's most demanding AI workloads. Our networking team designs and operates the fabrics that connect thousands of GPUs into unified compute clusters, and increasingly the optical transport that connects those clusters to each other, to our PoPs, and to our customers. As Sr. Staff Optical Network Architect, you will define and build Crusoe's optical network strategy and architecture from the ground up, spanning data center interconnect (DCI), metro and long-haul DWDM, and the backbone that carries scale-across AI training and inference traffic between campuses. This is the first dedicated optical architecture role at Crusoe, with direct influence on how we acquire fiber, select platforms, and scale backbone capacity from tens to hundreds of terabits per second.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on optical architect who has designed and operated production DWDM networks at scale and can turn that experience into an architecture, a roadmap, and a team. You are fluent in Ciena and Nokia optical platforms, comfortable working through an OSNR budget or a fiber characterization report, and equally comfortable defending a multi-year capacity plan to executives. This is a full-time position reporting into Network Engineering, with the mandate to set optical strategy and grow the function as Crusoe scales its global footprint.

What You'll Be Working On:

- Optical Network Strategy & Architecture: Define Crusoe's multi-year optical strategy and reference architecture across campus DCI, metro, regional, and long-haul segments, including line system design, ROADM topology, protection and restoration model, and failure domains.
- Backbone & Scale-Across Capacity: Architect the transport layer for inter-campus and backbone growth from multi-Tbps today toward hundreds of Tbps, evaluating 400ZR/ZR+, 800ZR, and embedded coherent transponders (Ciena WaveLogic, Nokia PSE) against reach, density, power, and cost per bit.
- Platform & Vendor Selection: Lead technical evaluation and selection of optical line systems and transponders. Drive RFPs, lab validation, multi-vendor interoperability testing, and second-source strategy.
- Fiber & Route Strategy: Partner with infrastructure, real estate, and procurement on dark fiber, IRU, and wavelength acquisition, including route diversity, fiber characterization (OTDR, CD, PMD), and build-versus-buy decisions for new PoPs and campuses.
- Optical Automation & Observability: Define how the optical layer is modeled in source of truth, provisioned, and monitored through open interfaces (OpenConfig, gNMI, TAPI, OpenROADM) and vendor controllers (Ciena MCP/Navigator, Nokia WaveSuite), so optical state is observable and reconciled rather than managed by hand.
- Reliability & Failure Analysis: Own optical-layer failure modes end to end, including fiber cuts, amplifier and transponder failures, and gradual performance degradation. Lead RCA for optical incidents and drive design changes that reduce blast radius and time to restore.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with Network Engineering, SDN, data center design, NetOps, finance, and supply chain to align optical capacity with GPU cluster deployments, the backbone roadmap, and construction timelines.
- Technical Leadership: Establish optical design standards, engineering documentation, and operational runbooks. Mentor engineers and help build out the optical engineering function as the network grows.

What You'll Bring to the Team:

- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field (Master's preferred).
- 12+ years of experience in optical transport networking, including 5+ years as an architect or senior technical lead designing production DWDM networks at service provider, hyperscaler, or cloud scale.
- Deep hands-on expertise with optical platforms, covering design, commissioning, and operational troubleshooting.
- Strong command of optical fundamentals: OSNR and power budgets, EDFA and Raman amplification, chromatic and polarization mode dispersion, nonlinear impairments, flex-grid spectrum planning, and C+L band systems.
- Experience with coherent technologies across pluggable (400ZR/ZR+, 800ZR) and embedded transponders, and a clear view of the tradeoffs between IP-over-DWDM and traditional transponder-based architectures.
- Proven track record defining the architecture and roadmap for an optical network from early stage through scale, including capacity planning and cost-per-bit modeling.
- Experience leading vendor evaluations, RFPs, and technical negotiations with optical platform vendors and fiber providers.
- Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to make and defend architectural decisions with engineering, procurement, and executive stakeholders.

Bonus Points:

- Experience building DCI or backbone networks for AI/ML or hyperscale data center environments, including scale-across training traffic between campuses.
- Experience with open and disaggregated optical systems (open line systems, OpenROADM, TIP OOPT) and alien wavelength or multi-vendor interoperability.
- Experience automating optical networks with NETCONF/YANG, OpenConfig, gNMI, or TAPI, and integrating optical telemetry into fleet-wide observability.
- Experience with dark fiber acquisition, IRU negotiations, long-haul route engineering, or subsea systems.
- Vendor certifications (Ciena OC-P or OC-C, Nokia Optical Network Professional) or participation in OIF, IEEE 802.3, or the OpenROADM MSA.

Benefits:

- Competitive compensation and equity packages
- Restricted Stock Units
- Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
- Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
- Employer contributions to HSA account
- Paid parental leave
- Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
- Professional development & tuition reimbursement
- Mental health & wellness support
- Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
- Cell phone stipend
- 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
- Volunteer time off
- Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
- Daily meals allowance
- Additional perks & programs specific to location

## Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $250,000 - $300,000 + bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. Crusoe is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, citizenship, marital status, sex/gender, sexual preference/ orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, national origin, or any other status protected by law or regulation.

## About Crusoe

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Crusoe is an energy-first AI infrastructure company that designs, builds, and operates hyperscale data centers and a cloud platform purpose-built for artificial intelligence workloads.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series E)
- **Headquarters**: Denver, Colorado, USA
- **Founded**: 2018
- **Founders**: Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: AI Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Clean Energy
- Target customers: Enterprise AI companies, AI-native startups, research institutions, government agencies (B2B)
- **Mission**: "Accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence."

## Products & Services
- **Crusoe Cloud**: An AI-optimized cloud platform purpose-built for AI workloads, featuring high-performance NVIDIA and AMD compute, accelerated storage, and optimized RDMA networking. Claims to deploy models up to 20x faster and cut costs by up to 81%.
- **Crusoe Managed Inference**: A managed AI inference service built with Crusoe's proprietary MemoryAlloy technology, offering best-in-class speed, throughput, and reliability. Features the Crusoe Intelligence Foundry for model selection and API key management.
- **AI Data Center Infrastructure**: Vertically integrated design, build, and operation of hyperscale AI factories (e.g., the 1.2 GW Stargate campus in Abilene, TX). Modular, scalable construction for power-hungry AI workloads.
- **Crusoe Managed Kubernetes & Slurm**: Managed orchestration services that eliminate operational overhead for customers.
- **Crusoe AutoClusters**: Fault-tolerant, managed cluster services for large-scale AI training.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company).
- **Key Metric**: Raised over $1.8B+ in total funding (Series E in 2024 was $1B+; Series D in 2024 was $600M; Series C in 2021 was $350M).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: NVIDIA, NYDIG, GE Vernova, Redwood Materials, Tallgrass, AMD. The company has also partnered with leading energy and technology firms to power its data centers.
- **Growth Signals**: Divested bitcoin mining business to NYDIG in 2023 to focus exclusively on AI infrastructure; broke ground on the 1.2 GW Stargate campus in Abilene, TX; expanded into Europe with a geothermal/hydro-powered deployment in Iceland; announced 1.8 GW Wyoming data center with Tallgrass; acquired GPU memory optimization startup Atero and established a Tel Aviv office.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Energy-First Approach**: The company’s core differentiator is its vertical integration starting from energy sourcing. It uses "environmentally aligned power sources" (wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, natural gas with carbon capture) to power its AI factories, including pioneering technology to convert wasted natural gas into energy.
- **Vertical Integration**: Controls the entire stack—from finding innovative energy sources to building and managing hyperscale data centers and operating the cloud platform.
- **NVIDIA Partnership**: Close partnership with NVIDIA, providing access to the latest and highest-performance GPU hardware for its cloud and infrastructure.
- **Proven Performance**: Claims 99.98% uptime, 100% customer satisfaction score, and significant cost/performance advantages (up to 81% cost reduction).

## Strategic Focus
- **Massive Infrastructure Expansion**: Aggressively scaling its data center footprint, with major projects in Abilene, Texas (Stargate) and Wyoming (Tallgrass), and expansion into Europe.
- **Deepening AI Cloud**: Continuing to build out its Crusoe Cloud platform with managed services (Kubernetes, Slurm, AutoClusters) to make it easier for AI companies to use their infrastructure.
- **Responsible AI**: Emphasizing sustainability and responsible AI governance, as evidenced by achieving ISO 42001 certification and publishing an ESG report.
- **Acquisition-led Growth**: Acquired Atero (GPU memory optimization) to enhance its core technology stack.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-Driven**: The company is united by a tangible mission: "Accelerate the abundance of energy and intelligence." Employees report high levels of engagement (92% proud to work there per internal survey).
- **Massive Growth Trajectory**: Crusoe is at the center of the AI infrastructure boom, building some of the world's most powerful AI factories. For job seekers, this means exposure to cutting-edge technology and the opportunity to scale a company from a startup to an industry leader.
- **Culture**: The company values "moving fast and making things," continuous learning, and collective genius. It describes itself as an "AI factory company" that values velocity and impact.
- **Work Policy**: Hybrid/Office presence required in most roles. Office locations include: Denver (HQ), San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Tulsa, Dublin (Ireland), and Tel Aviv (Israel).
- **Benefits**: Competitive compensation & equity, comprehensive health & wellness, mental health resources, retirement plans, paid time off, leave of absence programs, learning & development, volunteer time off, daily meals allowance, and other location-specific perks.
- **Engineering Culture**: Strong emphasis on technical excellence, working with large-scale systems, and pioneering new approaches to energy and infrastructure. The company values candidates' "AI fluency" in its hiring process.

## Sources
1. [crusoe.ai](https://www.crusoe.ai/)
2. [crusoe.ai/careers](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/careers)
3. [crusoe.ai/about/culture](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/careers/culture)
4. [crusoe.ai/about/company](https://www.crusoe.ai/about/company)

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