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Job Description
Description
The City of Palo Alto is proud to offer residents and businesses a full suite of City-owned and operated utility services including electricity, natural gas, water, sanitary sewer, and commercial fiber optic services.
We have a unique and exciting career opportunity for an experiencedFiber Systems Manager to drive the integration, expansion, and technical management of the City of Palo Alto fiber backbone network and work on a large-scale cutting-edge Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP)project. This role will support both dark fiber services and the deployment of our new FTTPnetwork to provide municipal fiber internet services. The Fiber Systems Manager is critical in optimizing and managing our fiber-optic network infrastructure, backbone upgrades, and supporting field construction for outside plant projects. You'll work collaboratively with our OSP Manager, Electrical Engineering team, and other stakeholders to achieve seamlessFTTP rollouts and enhanced network performance.
Why Join Palo Alto?- Impact the Community:Palo Alto’s community broadband network will benefit the community at large by keeping dollars local.
- Innovate for the Future:Fiber is the gold standard for fast, reliable internet, far outpacing DSL and cable. It is capable of carrying vast amounts of data over enormous distances and can support the symmetrical upload and download speeds, allowing for the seamless connectivity that is needed in today’s digital world.
- Collaborate for Change: Partner with internal teams, stakeholders, and regional entities to deliver a high service of excellence, impacting economic development and improve quality of life for the community.
- Join an award-winning team that offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package .
Who You Are- You have demonstrated experience in designing, integrating, and optimizing fiber-optic networks for FTTP services.
- You possess in-depth knowledge of fiber optic principles, including splicing, testing, and troubleshooting techniques.
- Strong understanding of fiber-optic equipment such as OLTs, splitters, switches, routers, and other active network elements.
- Ability to lead and manage a team, including providing oversight and direction for engineering and working closely with OSP teams.
- Proficient in fiber network planning tools and techniques (e.g., route optimization, link budget analysis), though expertise in CAD/GIS tools is not required.
- You have experience working with multi-dwelling units (MDUs), commercial businesses, and residential fiber installations.
- Possess excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally and manage external contractors or vendors.
- Strong problem-solving abilities and the capacity to troubleshoot network performance issues.
- You have project management expertise to effectively coordinate and execute complex fiber projects with cross-functional teams.
Essential Duties
Essential and other important responsibilities and duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Oversee fiber network management, leading the strategic management of the entire fiber network, ensuring the integration, expansion, and upgrade of the existing fiber backbone network with FTTP to support new fiber internet and legacy dark fiber services:
- Fiber Management System : 3-GIS implementation
- Permitting : Prepare and manage permit submissions required by various jurisdictions (City of Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, railroads, and other agencies)
- Manage Engineering Updates : Through the permitting process and construction, prepare routine design updates
- Manage Final As-Built Documentation : Oversee final as-built documentation, including final construction records
- Design and optimize fiber-optic systems to ensure technical performance, reliability, and scalability for residential, business, and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) services.
- Collaborate with the OSP Manager overseeing the buildout of the Outside Plant (OSP) to ensure field work aligns with system designs and network requirements.
- Manage Fiber Design and lead fiber design specialiststo develop and approve optimized fiber routes for both the backbone and distribution networks.
- Ensure proper system integration between the OSP and active network components, including splitters, Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE); integration between GIS system and OSS/BSS and other FTTP-related solutions.
- Monitor and test fiber performance, troubleshoot issues, and ensure compliance with signal performance standards (e.g., loss budgets, optical power levels).
- Oversee fiber splicing plans, fiber allocation, cable testing, and end-to-end system verification to ensure proper light levels and system integrity.
- Work with cross-functional teams to coordinate network expansions, upgrades, and rebuilds to meet business and service delivery goals.
- Develop and maintain network documentation, including system designs, fiber route maps, splice documentation, and as-built records.
- Provide technical guidance and act as a subject matter expert for all fiber-related infrastructure projects.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to plan for future network growth, ensuring that the infrastructure is scalable and can support increasing customer demand.
Minimum Qualifications
Sufficient education, training and/or work experience to demonstrate possession of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities which would typically be acquired through:
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Engineering, Economics, Mathematics, or other related field.
- Seven years of increasingly responsible experience in telecommunications and computer internet industry or design engineering for telecommunications facilities. (Engineering degree may substitute for two years of experience).
Note: Master's degree in Engineering or other related field and/or registration as a Professional Engineer may be considered in lieu of one year's experience.
Preferred Qualifications:- Professional certifications in fiber optics or telecommunications (e.g., FOA, CFOT, FTTX)
- Experience with fiber backbone rebuilds and upgrades in preparation for FTTX service launches.
- Familiarity with outside plant construction methods, including aerial and underground fiber deployment.
- Knowledge of fiber management systems and network documentation tools.
- Experience with lighting and testing fiber networks and ensuring that premises are properly connected and activated.
Supplemental Information
The Selection Process:- Applicants will receive recruitment status notifications via email. Governmentjobs.com account also has notification status updates.
- Applicants will be screened throughout the posting process and highly qualified candidates may be invited to interview at any time after the posting closes.
- The screening process for this position may include a phone interview, questionnaire, panel interview and/ final interviews with the hiring manager or their designee.
Our online application system is provided by NeoGov. If you have technical difficulties while applying online, please contact NeoGov's Live Applicant Support at (855) 524-5627 between 6:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday. For general inquiries please contact our Recruitment Team at recruit@cityofpaloalto.org or 650-329-2376.
The City of Palo Alto is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.
For more details visit our Careers Page, by clicking HERE.
Learn more about our Compensation Plan HERE.
Closing Date/Time: 2/14/2025 11:59 PM Pacific -
ABOUT THE COMPANY
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City of Palo Alto
Show morePalo Alto is located about 35 miles south of San Francisco; and 14 miles north of San Jose. Palo Alto, known as the “Birthplace of Silicon Valley” and global center of technology and innovation, is the corporate headquarters for many world-class companies and research facilities such as VMWare, Hewlett-Packard, IDEO, Tesla, and Skype. Home to Stanford University and a top-ranked public school system, Palo Alto also features beautiful and historic residential neighborhoods, vibrant shopping and retail districts.
Palo Alto has a highly educated and culturally sophisticated citizenry that is actively engaged in making a difference both locally and globally. Unique among city organizations, Palo Alto operates a full-array of services including its own gas, electric, water, sewer, refuse and storm drainage provided at very competitive rates for its customers.
The birthplace of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, is a community of approximately 68,000 residents and nearly 100,000 jobs. Located on the mid-Peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose, Palo Alto is recognized worldwide as a leader in cutting-edge technology, medicine, and green innovation. Many world-class businesses maintained or started offices here, including Amazon, Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Rivian, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, SAP Ariba, Houzz, Varian Medical Systems, and VMware. Numerous start-ups are also at home in Palo Alto, arguably making it the startup capital of the world.
Stanford University is foundational to the history and prestige of Palo Alto, reflected in the community’s dedication to life-long learning. Stanford’s cultural and educational offerings are integral to the vibrancy and charm of Palo Alto, while the City’s exceptional K-12 school district ranks among the top public school systems in the country. With more than 50% of adult residents holding a graduate degree or higher, Palo Alto is frequently listed as one of the most educated cities in the nation.
Home to picturesque tree-lined streets, bike lanes, and historic buildings that reflect its California heritage, Palo Alto boasts a genuine sense of community and an active citizenry with strong environmental values. Beautiful neighborhoods are complemented by vibrant commercial corridors and a bustling economy with premium shopping and dining options. Excellent health care facilities, performing arts, and diverse recreational opportunities are just some of this incredibly desirable community’s cherished amenities.
Join an Award Winning Team
Palo Alto is an award-winning City recognized nationwide as innovative and well-managed. Palo Alto is one of a small number of California cities with a AAA bond rating. Recently, Palo Alto became one of the most livable cities in the U.S. by Livability.com. It's the only city to receive the Platinum Beacon Award in sustainability best practices by California’s Institute for Local Government.
We offer a variety of career paths that relate to building and improving communities. The City has fourteen departments employing 1,000 full-time staff. Police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and building inspectors keep us safe. Engineers and public works staff build and re-build the physical infrastructure. City planners help envision and shape future community growth. Recreation, arts and library professionals enhance community life. Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer and other services. Internal services departments help manage, staff, and protect the City.
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