Lead system-level design validation and qualification of advanced optical interconnect products including 1.6T/3.2T optical interconnect, silicon photonics PICs, optical engines, DSP-based optical links, and CPO/OCI systems.
Develop and execute comprehensive validation plans for optical modules, high-speed electrical and optical interfaces, switch-level interoperability, and rack-level system qualification.
Characterize and optimize key optical and electrical performance metrics including BER, TDECQ, jitter, OSNR, extinction ratio, receiver sensitivity, eye quality, link margin, and power efficiency.
Perform module-level, simulation-level, and system-level qualification testing for IMDD and coherent optical systems.
Lead high-speed optical and electrical debug activities for PAM4 links operating at 200G/lane, 400G/lane, and beyond.
Develop, automate, and maintain optical/electrical test stations using Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, and database-driven analytics tools.
Collaborate closely with photonics, DSP/ASIC, SI/PI, packaging, firmware, manufacturing, and system architecture teams to optimize overall system performance and manufacturability.
Support optical architecture development for AI clusters, XPO/LPO/LRO systems, co- packaged optics, optical switching systems, and optical compute fabrics.
Contribute to industry standards activities including IEEE 802.3, OIF, CMIS, and MSA specifications.
Analyze test results and generate detailed technical reports to support design reviews, customer qualification, and production deployment.
Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related field.
Minimum 5 years of hands-on experience in optical system validation, optical transceiver qualification, or optical subsystem testing.
Direct experience with 400G, 800G, and 1.6T optical systems, PAM4 modulation, high-speed Rx/Tx characterization, switch-level interoperability testing, firmware and EEPROM validation, BER/TDECQ/RIN measurements, receiver sensitivity testing, and wafer-level optical characterization.
Strong familiarity with optical communication principles including NRZ/PAM4 modulation, dispersion, OSNR, jitter, equalization, signal integrity, and power integrity concepts.
Proficiency with optical and electrical lab instrumentation including BERTs, DCAs, high-speed oscilloscopes, OSAs, tunable lasers, VOAs, network analyzers, high-speed probes and fixtures, and optical power meters.
Strong experience with test automation and scripting using Python, MATLAB, and LabVIEW, along with familiarity with database-driven analytics and regression automation frameworks.
Familiarity with optical and RF simulation tools such as Lumerical, HFSS, ADS, COMSOL, VPI, and Zemax.
Strong understanding of IEEE 802.3 standards, QSFP-DD/OSFP modules, CMIS, optical module architectures, equalization techniques including CTLE, DFE, and FIR, as well as optical packaging and thermal considerations.
Experience with interoperability testing, root-cause and debugging.
Strong analytical, troubleshooting, debugging, and communication skills with the ability to work independently and collaboratively in cross-functional teams.
Requirements
Master's or Ph.D. degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
Experience with silicon photonics, optical engine packaging, AI interconnect architectures, optical switching systems, co-packaged optics (CPO), Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI), and coherent optical systems.
Experience with high-speed transceiver and optical engine testing at 100G, 400G, 800G, and 1.6T data rates.
Familiarity with DSP tuning and equalization techniques including CTLE, DFE, FIR equalization, adaptive equalization, and PAM4 eye optimization.
Aristanetworks · Santa Clara, CA