Digital Design & SoC Architecture
Originally posted 5 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Chief Engineer owns technical execution and integration for Neurophos's first fully integrated prototype system, spanning optical sources, electro-optic modulation, high-speed mixed-signal electronics, free-space optics, and a programmable photonic compute element. The role oversees the end-to-end system performance budget, directs laboratory bring-up, and stewards the hardware as an ongoing experimental platform for optical computing.
What you'll do
- Own and maintain the end-to-end system performance budget, allocating accuracy, signal-to-noise, and bandwidth requirements across electrical, optical, and software subsystems.
- Define and control system architecture, interface definitions, and requirements sets across electrical, optical, mechanical, thermal, and data boundaries.
- Oversee external design partners and vendors through schematic reviews, layout evaluations, BOM reviews, and deliverable acceptance.
- Plan and lead integration, laboratory bring-up, and debug of assembled hardware, correlating measured performance against predicted budgets.
- Design and execute experimental campaigns to characterize physical impairments—such as noise, crosstalk, nonlinearity, dispersion, and drift—and assess alternative mathematical encodings for optical compute.
What you'll need
- 15+ years of professional experience developing complex multi-disciplinary hardware systems, including at least 3 years as a system-level engineer or technical lead carrying a system from architecture through lab bring-up and characterization.
- Demonstrated experience constructing and maintaining quantitative performance budgets (link, noise, error, timing, or power) and interface control documents.
- Working knowledge of analog and high-speed electronics, including data converters, transmission lines, termination, amplifier/detector front-ends, power integrity, and schematic review.
- Solid understanding of optical systems, including optical sources, electro-optic modulation, photodetection, optical power budgets, and free-space propagation.
- Working fluency in linear algebra, signal processing, and modulation and encoding theory, paired with proficiency in Python or MATLAB for modeling and test automation.
- BS in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a closely related field.
Nice to have
- MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a closely related field.
Skills: prototype system integration, optical sources, electro-optic modulation, high-speed mixed-signal electronics, photonic compute element, system performance budget
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