Principal Engineer, Photonics System Engineering - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$150,680 - $225,700 USD yearly
Originally posted 15 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role drives execution across highly complex, cross-functional programs addressing demanding challenges in AI, wired and wireless communications, and critical infrastructure markets. You will develop, optimize, and validate optical system platforms that integrate Marvell's high-speed silicon photonics and DSP chipsets into board, switch, and rack-scale solutions.
What you'll do
- Determine and implement optimization and validation methodology on optical system platforms spanning board, switch, and optics
- Partner with analog, digital, system DSP, and firmware teams to develop optical system platforms for optimization, evaluation, and validation of Marvell's photonics and DSP chipsets
- Debug complex optical, analog, and signal processing problems arising during board-to-module and module-to-switch integration
- Support integration of silicon photonics light engines and co-packaged/on-board optics into platform-level designs
- Define and execute photonic IC and module-level test plans, including process qualification support for new photonics technologies
- Perform hands-on characterization using optical lab equipment to validate performance against system specifications
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field and 10-15 years of related professional experience; Master's degree and/or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field with 5-10 years of experience
- Deep knowledge of optical modules, components, systems, and devices, including lasers, detectors, modulators, and transceivers
- Experience in optical system validation and testing, optical component characterization techniques, and optical test equipment
- Knowledge of firmware control algorithms used in optical modules, along with DSP communication theory and data networking physical layer specifications
- Detailed, working knowledge of lab equipment such as Optical Spectrum Analyzers and Optical Modulation Analyzers, with solid lab techniques
- Solid programming skills in languages such as Python and C for test automation and data analysis
- Familiarity with silicon photonics platforms, light engines, and co-packaged/on-board optics integration relevant to board and switch platforms
- Knowledge of optical component and photonics device characterization, including PIC test methodologies
Nice to have
- Experience developing automated test solutions relating to optical components or transceivers is a plus
Skills: optical system platforms, silicon photonics, DSP chipsets, optical modules, PIC
This role has been open 1 day — well below the 73-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
129
|
Median days open
73 d
|
Median salary
$198k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Marvell Technology | All employers we track in this specialty (129 roles · 30 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 9 | 129 |
| Median days open | 41 d | 73 d (−32 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $198k |
Skills observed across this category: optical system platforms, silicon photonics, DSP chipsets, optical modules, PIC
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp · 17 open roles · median 86 d
- GlobalFoundries · 15 open roles · median 78 d
- Lightmatter · 13 open roles · median 91 d
- Lumentum · 9 open roles · median 73 d
- Marvell Technology (this employer) · 8 open roles · median 102 d
- Intel Corporation · 7 open roles · median 56 d
How we counted: 129 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 30 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 16 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. Figures refresh nightly.