Staff Systems Engineer, Architecture & Requirements - Austin, Texas, United States

Originally posted 18 September 2026 by the employer.

This role owns the architecture and requirements focus area for our optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) engine product roadmap.

About the role

This role owns the architecture and requirements focus area for the optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) engine product roadmap, defining its signal-path architecture and decomposing product-level requirements into subsystem and interface specifications. The position involves contributing to a first-of-its-kind computing platform that uses silicon photonics.

What you'll do

• Own and maintain the OVMM signal-path architecture, ensuring internal consistency as designs and product requirements evolve.
• Translate product- and system-level requirements into subsystem and work-package-level specifications, maintaining a structured, leveled requirements set.
• Define and maintain interface specifications between subsystems and disciplines (optics, analog, digital, software) and drive resolution of interface conflicts.
• Continuously partition the system for independent design, testing, and iteration of subsystems and domains.
• Originate and champion ideas for architectural evolution beyond the current product and identify scaling limitations.
• Lead architecture trade studies for channel count, TX/RX configuration, and aspect ratio, quantifying impact on performance, power, and complexity.

What you'll need

• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a closely related field, with emphasis on systems engineering or mixed-signal/optical system architecture.
• 5+ years of professional experience in systems engineering, requirements management, or architecture definition for complex electro-optic, mixed-signal, or communications hardware.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain leveled requirements sets, interface control documents, and verification/traceability matrices.
• Proven ability to quantify architectural trade-offs (performance, power, complexity, cost) and defend architecture decisions across disciplines.
• Working fluency with signal-path and link-budget models (Python or MATLAB) sufficient to evaluate trade study impact.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with credibility to negotiate and align priorities across stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Experience with requirements-management tooling (DOORS, Jira, or similar) and version-controlled, machine-readable specification repositories (e.g., Git-based documentation).
• Familiarity with optical or RF communication systems and high-speed mixed-signal architecture.
• Experience defining product configuration and variant management for complex hardware systems.
• Exposure to formal gate-review processes (PDR/CDR-style) across internal teams and external design partners.
• Familiarity with Cadence Virtuoso and Spectre sufficient to review analog implementation against requirements.

Skills: OVMM engine, signal-path architecture, subsystem specifications, interface specifications, electro-optic systems, requirements management