{"id":3220602,"url":"https://alion.io/job/ciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer","title":"Senior Software/Firmware Engineer","company":{"id":1996,"name":"Ciena Corporation","domain":"ciena.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/ciena","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":77,"open_postings":27,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.926,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":31,"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Milan, Italy"],"countries":["IT"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":50000,"max_usd":91000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":20},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Git","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Agile","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-23","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T03:27:31Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":10,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":10},"description":"As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity-driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.\nCiena is seeking an experienced Senior Software/Firmware Engineer to join our multidisciplinary team and contribute to the design, development, testing, and manufacturing scale-up of advanced optical and photonic products.\nThis role will be a hands-on technical contributor responsible for developing embedded firmware for microcontroller-based systems, integrating software with electronic and photonic hardware, and developing software tools for product control, testing, and automation. The engineer will have the opportunity to contribute across different areas depending on their experience and expertise, including embedded firmware, hardware control, test automation, APIs, and product calibration.\nThe successful candidate will work closely with cross-functional teams including hardware, optics, manufacturing, and systems engineering to deliver robust and scalable solutions supporting Ciena's next-generation networking and photonics roadmap.\n\nHow will you make an impact\nDevelop C/C++ bare-metal firmware for microcontroller-based products and systems, including signal processing and hardware interfacing (UART, I2C, SPI, and CAN).\nSupport the team in building libraries and scripts to automate production, experiments, and testing workflows, interfacing with laboratory instrumentation using Ethernet or VISA protocols.\nCollaborate with team members to define test plans, validate prototypes, analyze experimental data, and ensure seamless integration between hardware and software.\nSupport product industrialisation and high-volume manufacturing, including production testing, automation, diagnostics, and troubleshooting.\nTroubleshoot complex firmware and hardware/software integration issues and drive root-cause analysis and product improvements.\nContribute to software and firmware architecture, code quality, documentation, version control, and development processes.\n\nThe must have\nExperience: 5+ years of hands-on experience developing software or firmware for embedded systems.\nStrong experience with C/C++ firmware development for microcontroller-based systems, preferably including STM32 or similar platforms.\nKnowledge of hardware interfaces such as UART, I2C, SPI, and CAN. \nExperience developing, debugging, and testing firmware interacting directly with electronic hardware.\nProficiency in Python programming for system-level tasks, automation, and APIs.\nProficiency with Git and software version-control practices.\nAbility to collaborate effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.\nStrong written and verbal communication skills in English.\n\nNice to have\nKnowledge of optical communication systems and their application in data centers and telecommunications\nAbility to interface with laboratory instrumentation and automate testing processes.\nAbility to create web-based or Python GUIs for hardware interaction.\nHaving worked in teams using Agile methodologies.\nExperience supporting manufacturing scale-up, production test, automated testing, or product qualification.\nAt Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.\nCiena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.\nIf contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3860,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Flexible schedule"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Telecom Infrastructure","Optical Communications"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-25T03:00:29Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.631,"p_room":1,"age_days":10,"expected_fill_days":31,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/ciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/ciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-02T12:48:37Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":17440,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1996},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1996"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/ciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fciena-corporation-senior-softwarefirmware-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3220602}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"ciena.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3220602},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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