Network & Transport Specialist - IT Infrastructure & Operations

FirstEnergy • Akron, OH

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

FirstEnergy is a forward-thinking electric utility powered by a diverse team of employees committed to making customers’ lives brighter, the environment better and our communities stronger. FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) is dedicated to safety, reliability, and operational excellence. Headquartered in Akron, Ohio, FirstEnergy includes one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, more than 24,500 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, and a regulated generating fleet with a total capacity of 3,780 megawatts.

About the Opportunity
Optical Network Transport Specialist
Location: Akron, OH preferred, or within the FirstEnergy service territory. This role may support remote work arrangements but requires availability to travel throughout the service territory as business needs, projects, maintenance activities, and restoration efforts require.

Position Summary
The Optical Network Transport Specialist is responsible for delivering and sustaining the high-capacity optical transport infrastructure that supports critical utility operations. This position is focused on the engineering, implementation, operation, and reliability of DWDM and OTN transport systems, along with related SONET, MPLS, and fiber-based communications platforms that connect substations, control centers, data centers, service centers, field locations, and other essential enterprise facilities. The successful candidate will help sustain and modernize optical transport systems that support operational reliability, grid visibility, enterprise connectivity, and secure communications. This role requires strong technical judgment, troubleshooting discipline, documentation accuracy, collaboration across multiple technical teams, and a commitment to safety, compliance, customer service, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, Information Technology, or a related field; equivalent work experience in a network engineering, telecommunications, or operations environment may be considered.
• Relevant experience engineering, implementing, operating, or supporting enterprise optical transport, WAN, IP-MPLS, telecommunications, or utility communications networks.
• Knowledge of optical transmission principles including wavelengths, attenuation, optical budgets, power levels, span loss, dispersion, fiber impairments, and related troubleshooting methods.
• Working knowledge of networking protocols and technologies including TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, switching, routing, subnetting, ISIS, BGP, and related WAN concepts.
• Proven troubleshooting skills across optical, routed, switched, wireless, and transport network environments.
• Ability to coordinate multiple work activities, projects, vendors, field resources, and business stakeholders while meeting scope, schedule, budget, reliability, and safety expectations.
• Availability during non-standard hours when project schedules, planned maintenance, on-call responsibilities, or network issues require support.
• Strong written, verbal, collaboration, and presentation skills with the ability to explain technical information to management, peers, field personnel, vendors, and internal customers.
• Commitment to safety programs, policy guidelines, compliance expectations, customer service, accurate documentation, and continuous learning.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with DWDM, SONET, MPLS, microwave, RF backhaul, Nokia optical platforms, Nokia NSP, Cisco optical platforms, or similar transport technologies.
• Familiarity with electric utility infrastructure, substations, distribution networks, transmission facilities, control centers, and operational technology environments.
• Experience with enterprise network management, monitoring, alarming, configuration, asset management, or performance management applications.
• Understanding of NERC CIP, cyber security, physical security, regulatory compliance, change control, and documentation requirements for mission-critical infrastructure.
• Nokia Network Routing, Nokia Optical, Nokia NSP, Cisco, Juniper, Network+, CCNA, CCNP, or comparable industry certifications.
• Experience with scripting, automation, network standardization, lifecycle management, business case development, or strategic network modernization initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Design, engineer, configure, implement, test, and support optical transport systems that provide resilient communications for substations, control centers, data centers, service centers, and field operational locations.
• Support DWDM, OTN, SONET, MPLS, AMI, microwave, and related transport technologies used to deliver reliable enterprise and operational communications.
• Perform optical capacity planning, wavelength assignment, circuit provisioning, protection planning, service turn-up, network expansion, and lifecycle sustainment activities.
• Analyze optical performance metrics including receive and transmit power levels, span loss, optical signal-to-noise ratio, dispersion, attenuation, amplifier gain, fiber impairments, and related alarm conditions.
• Troubleshoot optical transport service degradations and outages using network management systems, performance data, circuit records, fiber route information, OTDR results, optical power measurements, vendor tools, and field technician feedback.
• Coordinate planned maintenance, equipment replacement, fiber cutover, circuit migration, software upgrade, and service restoration activities while identifying customer impact, outage risk, rollback steps, and stakeholder communication needs.
• Develop and maintain accurate network documentation including circuit layouts, fiber assignments, port mappings, wavelength records, logical service paths, standard configurations, alarming references, and operational procedures.
• Partner with Fiber Engineering, Field Communications, Data-LAN, Communication Engineering, Operations Technology, field technicians, vendors, and support contractors to deliver integrated end-to-end transport solutions.
• Support compliance, cyber security, physical security, asset management, change management, licensing, regulatory, and safety expectations associated with utility communications infrastructure.
• Provide subject matter expertise during incident response, root cause analysis, project planning, design reviews, vendor engagements, peer training, and leadership briefings related to optical transport reliability and resiliency.
• Participate in a rotating on-call support model to troubleshoot and restore network services during service-impacting events.
• Support on-site work or meetings in field, office, substation, control center, data center, and remote environments as needed.
• Coordinate with internal teams, external vendors, contractors, and operational stakeholders during project delivery, maintenance windows, and outage restoration activities.
• Maintain a safety-first mindset and follow all applicable work practices, change management requirements, and operational procedures.

Benefits

• competitive pay plus incentive compensation
• a company-sponsored pension plan
• 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution
• a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs
• skills development training with tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level