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AboutRequest talent

Fiber optic technician.

Installs, terminates, tests and troubleshoots fiber optic cabling inside buildings and data centers.

Estimate the cost
Sheet
R-04
Family
Connectivity and network infrastructure
Weighted most on
Technical depth, Execution, Judgment

On a deployment.

Fiber technicians handle the runs that carry the most bandwidth and tolerate the fewest mistakes. Trunk and breakout installation, MPO and LC termination, cleaning and inspection, insertion loss and OTDR testing, and the documentation that proves it all.

Inside a data center this is precise, clean work under time pressure, often in cold aisles and above racks.

What good looks like.

Preparation
Inspects and cleans every connector before mating, every time.
Judgment
Understands loss budgets and can explain why a link is failing.
Handover
Test results are organized, named and handed over without prompting.

What Riviot checks.

Required items must be held. Advantageous items move the rate and the shortlist order. Every item is declared until a reviewer checks it.

  • FOA CFOT(declared)Required
  • FOA CFOS/T or CFOS/S(declared)Advantageous
  • OTDR and inspection equipment training(declared)Advantageous
  • OSHA 30 (US) or ECS card (UK)(declared)Required

How Vio assesses this role.

Weighted most on Technical depth, Execution, Judgment.

  1. Technical depth
  2. Execution
  3. Judgment
  4. Communication
  5. Reliability
  6. Range
A scenario used in the assessment

An MPO trunk with high loss on four fibers. The candidate explains how they isolate the cause and what they do if the trunk cannot be replaced before go-live.

Rate context.

Contract, US (Dallas-Fort Worth)
$350 to $560 a day
Contract, UK (London)
£240 to £390 a day
Permanent, US
$65,000 to $92,000
Permanent, UK
£36,000 to £52,000

Indicative ranges before certification and shift uplifts. Use the calculator for your profile. Illustrative rate table v0.1, September 2026.

Estimate project cost

Typical projects.

  • Data center fiber backbones
  • Spine and leaf cabling
  • Cross-connect programs
  • Fiber audits and remediation

Locations with the most demand.

Related roles.

Fiber splicerFusion splices and tests fiber in enclosures, splice trays and cabinets, indoors and outside plant.$380 to $600 a dayStructured cabling technicianInstalls, terminates and tests copper and fiber structured cabling to a recognized standard.$320 to $520 a dayOSP crewOutside plant crews install duct, cable and closures between buildings and to the campus boundary.$300 to $480 a day

Questions about this role.

How quickly can you shortlist a fiber optic technician?

Shortlists typically arrive within two working days of a complete brief. You get two to five masked scorecards, each with a note from the recruiter. If the site needs clearance or a rare certification, the recruiter will say so on the day the brief arrives.

Contract or permanent?

Both. We place fiber optic technicians on contract and permanent terms. On contract work, Riviot can act as employer of record or agent of record. The contract versus permanent tool shows where the crossover sits for your market.

What if the site needs a certification not listed here?

Put it in the brief. The recruiter shortlists against it, and it shows on each scorecard as declared until a reviewer has checked the document.

Do engineers travel between markets?

Many do. Engineers in the network travel throughout the United States, the UK and Ireland. Travel and lodging terms are agreed at brief stage. Say in the brief if you need someone local.