Sr. Hardware Optical Engineer

Astera Labs - Santa Clara, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

Santa Clara, CA

Telecommunications

About the position

As a Sr. Hardware Optical Engineer at Astera Labs, you will be part of a dedicated Hardware Engineering team, collaborating closely with ASIC Engineering. Your primary responsibility will be to design boards that incorporate a diverse range of connectivity and memory products used by leading cloud service providers and network OEMs. You will engage in all stages of design, from concept to mass production, while also driving innovation and providing feedback to improve products and processes. This role offers opportunities for direct interaction with key customers to tailor board products to their specific needs.

Responsibilities

• Design boards incorporating Astera Labs' connectivity and memory products.
• Engage in all stages of design from concept to mass production.
• Provide insightful feedback to internal teams to drive innovation.
• Collaborate on manufacturing, customer engagement, and post-production support.
• Solicit customer input on form factors and propose comprehensive board products.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering; Master's preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years experience in system-level board design.
• Strong background in high-speed board design techniques and methodologies.
• Knowledge of schematic capture and PCB layout tools such as Cadence and Altium.
• Working knowledge of Allegro layout tool for design review.
• Understanding of power architecture and power integrity challenges.
• Experience designing systems with high-speed NRZ/PAM4 SerDes-based protocols.
• Strong experience in board bring-up and validation.
• Track record of taking products from concept to mass production.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working with mechanical and thermal teams.
• Hardware design around FPGAs and MCUs.
• Experience designing PCIe/CEM cards and active copper cable applications.
• Working with silicon characterization/validation teams.
• Technical writing skills for documentation such as hardware specifications and user guides.
• Experience in manufacturing, quality, and compliance.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Health insurance
• 401k plan
• Flexible working hours
• Professional development opportunities