Electro-Optic Link Hardware Engineer - Mountain View, CA, United States
$155,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 20 July 2026 by the employer. Relisted by the employer on 24 September 2026.
About the role
This role leads the verification and characterization of high-speed electro-optic links across multiple silicon and system programs. You will work directly at the bench owning modeling methodology, measurement standards, and signal integrity problem resolution alongside the EOE team.
What you'll do
- Run hands-on lab characterization and debug of high-speed electrical/optical hardware, including novel failure modes. - Build system-level electrical/optical/EO channel models and correlate them against bench measurements. - Own link budget and verification methodology while conducting validating measurements. - Characterize eye diagrams, BER, jitter, equalization, and channel impairments. - Support silicon bring-up and root-cause debug with analog, package, PCB, and SerDes teams while influencing architecture tradeoffs.
What you'll need
- MS/PhD in EE, Photonics, Physics with 8+ years of experience, or BS/MS with 10+ years of experience. - Experience owning the verification strategy for a full silicon or system program. - Deep expertise in 56G/112G/224G+ serial links, SerDes equalization (CTLE/FFE/DFE), and signal integrity (S-parameters, crosstalk, link budgets). - Extensive hands-on lab experience with VNA, scopes, BERTs, TDRs, and tools such as ADS, HFSS, Cadence, or COMSOL. - Strong Python or MATLAB proficiency for team-used automation frameworks. - Demonstrated track record of mentoring engineers in a laboratory setting.
Nice to have
- Experience with silicon photonics/EO systems at the architecture level. - Package/PCB/channel co-design ownership. - Experience with COM/IBIS-AMI modeling, patents, or standards contributions (OIF, IEEE 802.3).
This role has been open 91 days — well above the 52-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
973
|
Median days open
52 d
|
Median salary
$155k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Lightmatter | All employers we track in this specialty (973 roles · 101 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 5 | 973 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 16 | 6166 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 71 d | 52 d (+19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $155k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 76 open roles · median 36 d
- KLA Corporation · 65 open roles · median 46 d
- Teradyne · 56 open roles · median 32 d
- NVIDIA · 52 open roles · median 67 d
- Applied Materials · 50 open roles · median 68 d
- AMD · 46 open roles · median 50 d
How we counted: 973 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 101 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 20 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.