Optical Firmware Engineer, Principal
Astera Labs10 days ago
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and debug real-time firmware for optical transceivers or PIC/EIC engines.
- Implement algorithms for laser control, automatic power control, and link adaptation.
- Integrate firmware with hardware and higher-level software via I2C, SPI, or custom interfaces.
- Develop diagnostic, calibration, and telemetry features for manufacturing and field monitoring.
- Optimize firmware for low latency, power efficiency, and high reliability in high-speed optical links.
- Collaborate with optical, electrical, DSP, and system validation teams to tune performance.
- Support bring-up, debugging, and qualification of silicon photonics prototypes.
- Handle firmware updates, version control, and compliance with industry standards.
Requirements
- BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, or related field with 12+ years of industry experience.
- Strong experience in embedded firmware development for optical or high-speed communication systems.
- Knowledge of photonics concepts including lasers, modulators, and thermal tuning.
- Proficiency in C/C++, Python, and debugging tools like JTAG and oscilloscopes.
- Experience with high-speed SerDes and optical link optimization is a plus.
- Familiarity with silicon photonics or pluggable optics is highly valued.