Systems Application Engineer (Acacia - Optical Communications)

The application window is expected to close on: 01/26/2026 Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received. The job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received. This is a hybrid position requiring you to work onsite at Cisco’s Seattle office location 3 to 4 days per week, with the remaining 1 to 2 days spent at customer locations within the Seattle area. Meet the Team Join the Acacia team, which takes pride in providing and fostering a collaborative environment to ensure success and personal growth. The Acacia Communications team designs intelligent transceivers using advanced signal processing and photonic integration for the 100G, 400G, 1T bit speed and beyond fiber optic transmission market deployed in data centers, metros, long-haul, and ultra-long-haul telecommunication networks. You will collaborate with our entire R&D teams (e.g., DSP, ASIC, Optics, Software, Photonics, and Hardware) Your Impact: You will be a member of the SAE team working to support all coherent and non-coherent products. Work closely with our customers' internal R&D teams to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction with our highly complex, coherent optical products. Influence future product feature development and current product modifications. Provide technical guidance, educate, and partner with our customers to ensure successful application of Acacia products. Work closely with Technical Marketing to provide vital technical information about our customers' use cases and system needs. Advocate and communicate internally for customer product needs and standard-based features. Author application notes, product specifications, and Python scripts; contribute to technical presentations and marketing documents. Provide full life cycle technical support for Acacia products in HW and SW, including future roadmap discussions, alpha sample test support, host card development, system verification, and field issue resolution. Enabling our customers and partners to ensure their successful development and deployment of next-generation telecom systems for carriers, network operators, and data centers. Minimum qualifications: Bachelor's degree in electrical or computer science or optical engineering with 6+ years of experience in optical communications, Master's degree with 4+ years of experience, or a PhD with 2+ years of experience or equivalent experience. Experience in OTN or optical network and Ethernet technologies Experience with managed electrical/optical components, inter and intra-function operations in switch and router platforms and Data Center Infrastructures. Preferred qualifications: Familiar with CMIS, and various 3rd party host platforms and network management tools. Coding/scripting experience (e.g., C++, Python, and JSON). Direct experience with electrical transceiver applications, including backplane and cable communications Why Cisco? At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. We are Cisco, and our power starts with you. Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada: The starting salary range posted for this position is $134,300.00 to $195,400.00 and ... (truncated, view full listing at source)