Principal Hardware Engineer
$235,600 USD yearly
Originally posted 10 November 2026 by the employer.
About the role
PsiQuantum is seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to support the electronics team for photonic switching products. In this role, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams spanning thermal, mechanical, firmware, and optical engineering to meet system architecture requirements.
What you'll do
- Architect PCB hardware designs directly from functional requirements documents.
- Design, create schematics, and oversee PCB layout of analog and digital circuitry including DACs, ADCs, high-speed transceivers, FPGAs, microcontrollers, clock distribution, power supply filters, inrush current limiters, and power distribution.
- Ensure robust signal integrity and EMI suppression across all hardware designs.
- Perform SI simulation using Cadence and Ansys tools.
- Design and create test set-ups for electro-optic modules.
- Characterize, optimize, and debug analog, digital, and electro-optic circuitry using mixed signal and sampling oscilloscopes, vector network analyzers, signal generators, multimeters, and DC power supplies.
What you'll need
- Master's or Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or equivalent.
- 10 years of relevant experience in product development and release to volume manufacturing leading to multiple successful commercial products.
- Experience architecting and designing complex PCB hardware with mixed-signal and high-speed digital circuitry.
- Proficiency in signal integrity simulation using Cadence and Ansys tools.
- Hands-on experience debugging and characterizing hardware using vector network analyzers, oscilloscopes, and signal generators.
More semiconductor jobs: PsiQuantum jobs · Hardware design jobs · California jobs
First seen in our index 0 days ago, well below the 47-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1134
|
Median days since first seen
47 d
|
Category median salary (all employers)
$148k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | PsiQuantum | All employers we track in this specialty (1134 roles · 108 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 21 | 1134 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 42 | 6610 · 157 employers |
| Median days since first seen | 69 d | 47 d (−22 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | n/a | $148k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 87 open roles · median 35 d
- KLA Corporation · 66 open roles · median 61 d
- NVIDIA · 59 open roles · median 76 d
- Teradyne · 59 open roles · median 52 d
- ASML · 58 open roles · median 19 d
- Applied Materials · 57 open roles · median 42 d
How we counted: 1134 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 108 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 10 Nov 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there, and is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Days are counted from when our index first saw each posting, not from the employer's original posting date.