Full Job Description
Build the optical backbone of the AI revolution. As our High-Speed Analog/Mixed-Signal Design Engineer, you will directly lead the electrical specifications, custom circuit design, and verification strategies for Cisco's next-generation 800G, 1.6T, and beyond silicon photonics modules.
Operating within our best-in-class Silicon Photonics team, you will own the end-to-end development cycle for 100G/200G/400G per Lambda driver integrated circuits that seamlessly integrate with Cisco's core routing, switching, and datacenter platforms.
Your technical leadership will span critical execution phases from concept to production:
• Datapath & Control Ownership: Author high-performance mixed-signal datapath and low-speed control circuits for both receive and transmit paths-including photonic modulator drivers, serializers, PLLs, and TIAs-while rigorously optimizing for power, performance, testability, and cost.
• Full-Chip Architecture & Integration: Drive full-chip electrical specifications and comprehensive verification test plans, coordinating tightly across electrical, optical, and product architecture teams.
• Bring-Up & Yield Enhancement: Debug complex silicon and system-level bottlenecks hands-on during lab validation and bring-up phases to drive yield enhancements and failure analysis.
• Technical Leadership & Mentoring: Guide and mentor analog, digital, and validation engineers, elevating our team's engineering excellence across next-gen data center architectures.
Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelors + 12 years of related experience, or Masters + 8 years of related experience, or PhD + 5 years of high-speed AMS design experience
• Demonstrated expertise in high-speed optical transceiver design (modulator drivers, TIA, CDR, PLLs, ADC/DAC) and proficiency with industry standard tools (Cadence Virtuoso, Spectre, Caliber, SystemVerilog, Verilog-AMS)
• Demonstrated ability to lead design teams through full tapeout cycle, making critical decisions with limited data and delivering successful silicon products
• Proficiency in Python or C for design automation, scripting, and analytical tools
Preferred Qualifications
• 10-15 years of analog/mixed signal circuit design experience
• Experience with silicon photonics driver ICs and direct-detect optical module architectures
• Strong understanding of silicon photonics, optical subsystems, MSA standards (QSFP/QSFP-DD), and IEEE 802.3 specifications
• Expertise in multiple high-speed PHYs, protocols and subsystems (SerDes 112Gbps/224Gbps PAM4, Ethernet, UCIE, clock and data recovery systems, PLLs, ADC/DAC circuits)
• Demonstrated experience in design for testability (DFT) and test methodology development for large mixed-signal designs
• Proven experience with lab instrumentation (digital communication analyzers, real-time scopes, BERTs), SI/PI and test fixture/PCB
• Familiarity with optical sub-component models (photodiodes, modulators) and Verilog-A modeling for AMS simulations
• Strong collaborator and teammate with the ability to work across teams in multiple sites
