Senior Software Engineer

Adtran is seeking a Senior Software Engineer in Dallas, TX (onsite) to help shape and deliver carrier-grade packet Ethernet products. This role focuses on embedded software architecture, feature ownership end to end, and technical leadership across design, development, integration, and lifecycle maintenance.

Role Overview

The Senior Software Engineer provides technical ownership for major Ethernet product features, translates customer and business requirements into scalable embedded software solutions, and supports platform evolution. The position also includes mentoring responsibilities, including design guidance, code reviews, and knowledge transfer to junior and mid-level engineers.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a senior contributor and technical owner for major Ethernet domain features, supporting design, development, and platform evolution.
• Design and develop embedded software applications, primarily using C/C++, within a team environment using the SAFe development methodology.
• Develop and execute unit, integration, system, and feature-level test strategies to validate software functionality, robustness, performance, and reliability.
• Contribute to system architecture and technical strategy across multiple subsystems, or serve as a recognized expert for a significant technology domain.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, lead proof-of-concept investigations, influence technical direction, and represent the organization in relevant industry forums, standards activities, or customer engagements.
• Own technical delivery and quality for major features, from requirements through deployment, sustaining support, and customer issue resolution.
• Provide technical mentoring, design guidance, and architectural knowledge transfer through code reviews and documentation.
• Collaborate with systems engineering, product line management, FPGA, hardware, and product teams to translate business requirements into functional product solutions.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code, improving quality through refactoring, automation, and reduction of technical debt.
• Create and maintain unit and integration tests to support application stability.
• Evaluate new technologies and infrastructure improvements that support long-term product sustainability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Use modern software development tools, including AI-assisted engineering tools such as GitHub Copilot and Claude Code, to improve development efficiency, code quality, and engineering productivity.
• Serve as a department expert in one or more technical areas and provide guidance to others based on that expertise.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computer Information Science, or equivalent education.
• Typically 8+ years of professional embedded software development experience or equivalent demonstrated expertise.
• Strong proficiency with Linux development environments, including system administration, debugging, build systems, process management, and performance analysis.
• Strong understanding of embedded software architecture, multithreading, concurrency, memory management, and performance optimization.
• Development experience on Embedded Linux operating systems.
• Experience debugging complex software issues using tools such as GDB, core dumps, protocol analyzers, and system tracing tools.
• Proficiency with Git and modern source control workflows, including branching strategies, code review processes, and CI/CD integration.
• Experience implementing or troubleshooting networking protocols such as Ethernet, VLAN, MPLS, LACP, STP/RSTP/MSTP, OAM, PTP, or synchronization technologies.
• Familiarity with the SAFe development methodology.
• Strong interpersonal, project management, analytical, and investigative skills.
• Strong verbal presentation and communication skills.
• Ability to influence technical decisions and build consensus among cross-functional stakeholders.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Limited travel may be required for this position.

Technologies and Tools

• C/C++, SAFe, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code
• Linux, Embedded Linux, Embedded Linux kernel, device driver development
• GDB, CI/CD
• Ethernet, VLAN, MPLS, LACP, STP/RSTP/MSTP, OAM, PTP
• NETCONF, SNMP, gNMI, RESTCONF
• IEEE, ITU, MEF
• ARM

Preferred Qualifications (Success Criteria)

• Industry experience developing carrier-grade software for Telecom/Datacom transport equipment.
• Solid understanding of data communications networking with emphasis on Layer 2 Ethernet technologies.
• Familiarity with IEEE, ITU, and MEF standards.
• Embedded Linux kernel and device driver development experience.
• Secure software development practices.
• Open-source software integration and maintenance experience.
• Experience with ARM-based embedded platforms.
• Network management protocol experience including NETCONF, SNMP, gNMI, and RESTCONF.
• Experience with high-availability and carrier-grade software architectures.
• Experience with CI/CD and automated test frameworks.