Embedded Software Engineer Intern (12-16 months - September 2026)

Ciena•Ottawa, ON

2d•CA$25 - CA$34

About The Position

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. This is a 12-16 month co-op opportunity beginning in September 2026. We design, implement, and maintain real-time embedded platform and application software for several of Ciena’s flagship products. Functional areas in our scope range from low level bit flipping drivers to high level software state machines for interfacing with external applications.

Requirements

Enrolled in a bachelor’s or master's degree in computer or electrical engineering, computer science, or similar disciplines
Experience with C or C++

Nice To Haves

Developing software for embedded systems or telecom products
Understanding of CPU hardware architectures, hardware functional specifications, hardware timing diagrams, device data sheets
Understanding of real-time operating systems and embeded systems
Familiarity with the Yocto Project or other Linux distribution creation systems
Software development tools such as git, BitBucket, Gerrit, Jira, etc.
Unit test frameworks such as Google Test, JUnit, Robot, PyTest, and the like
Debuggers and tools (e.g., gdb), especially for troubleshooting embedded systems in user space and kernel space
High-level scripting languages such as Python, bash
YANG modeling language and toolchains
Software development methodologies such as Agile or Waterfall
Familiarity with datacom and telecom concepts such as DWDM, SONET/SDH, OTN, Ethernet, OSI Model, TCP/IP, MPLS

Responsibilities

Linux and VxWorks kernels and base software components
Drivers for proprietary and 3rd party ASICs, FPGAs, and other hardware components.
Hardware/software interface to provide bridging of various abstraction layers.
Fault and alarms subsystems to detect, report and maintain defects and manage their hysteresis and co-relations.
System applications such as traffic/equipment protection, performance monitoring, etc.
SDKs that abstract the underlying low-level software and hardware to facility platform application developments and integration.