Active Electric Cable / Smart Cable Module Lead, AVP - San Jose, California, United States
$280,000 - $310,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 3 June 2026 by the employer.
About the role
Lead high-speed product development and technology strategy across advanced interconnect solutions, including active electrical cables, active copper cables, smart cable modules, and linear re-driver cables. This position directs multidisciplinary teams spanning hardware, firmware, testing, and mechanical engineering from concept through qualification and launch.
What you'll do
- Lead cross-functional engineering teams across mechanical engineering, testing engineering, hardware engineering, and firmware engineering. - Drive R&D and new product development for active and passive high-speed electrical interconnect technologies. - Define and manage the technology roadmap and strategic planning aligned with customer and market needs. - Oversee products through the full lifecycle, from concept, design, and qualification to launch. - Collaborate with signal integrity, NPI, QA, validation, and manufacturing teams to ensure product performance, quality, and reliability. - Guide team competencies across schematic and layout design, firmware, high-speed standards compliance, FMEA, DFM, and DFA.
What you'll need
- Proven experience leading engineering development for high-speed electrical interconnect products, including cable manufacturing. - Strong background in R&D and product development across active electrical cables (AEC), active copper cables (ACC), or smart cable modules (SCM). - Track record of managing multidisciplinary engineering disciplines including hardware, firmware, mechanical, and test. - Experience delivering complex hardware products through full lifecycle qualification and commercial launch.
This role has been open 142 days — well above the 51-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1017
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$154k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Astera Labs | All employers we track in this specialty (1017 roles · 102 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 4 | 1017 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 16 | 6297 · 144 employers |
| Median days open | 139 d | 51 d (+88 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $154k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 75 open roles · median 36 d
- KLA Corporation · 63 open roles · median 50 d
- Teradyne · 61 open roles · median 36 d
- NVIDIA · 51 open roles · median 68 d
- Applied Materials · 48 open roles · median 67 d
- AMD · 43 open roles · median 53 d
How we counted: 1017 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 102 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.