Sr Engineer: Silicon ValidationLocation: San Jose (on-site)
In this role, you will own the silicon bring up and validation of our optical chiplets. You will execute post-silicon bringup and characterization across SerDes, photonic, and mixed-signal blocks, building the test infrastructure and automation that ensures our products meet and exceed specification before customer deployment.
Essential Functions - Perform initial power-on and bringup of new silicon tape-outs, including boot sequence validation, clock/power domain verification, and initial functionality tests.
- Perform functional and electrical characterization of high-speed SerDes interfaces, photonic control blocks, and mixed signal blocks. Define and execute test plans at both block and chip level.
- Use lab test equipment (BERT, oscilloscope/DCA, OSA, signal generators) to characterize signal integrity, eye diagrams, BER, jitter, and optical performance metrics.
- Develop and maintain Python-based test scripts and automation frameworks for regression and characterization testing.
- Systematically investigate silicon anomalies and failures; collaborate with design and firmware engineers to develop and verify fixes.
- Write clear test plans, validation reports, and signoff documentation; communicate findings to cross-functional teams.
- Partner with firmware, analog/mixed-signal, digital, and systems engineering teams across the full product development cycle.
Basic Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field with 3+ years of relevant industry experience.
- Hands-on experience with post-silicon bringup and validation of high-speed SoC or mixed-signal devices.
- Working knowledge of SerDes PHY operation and characterization, including NRZ and/or PAM-4 signaling.
- Proficiency with lab equipment used for high-speed characterization: BERT, oscilloscopes, signal analyzers.
- Proficiency in Python for test scripting and data analysis.
- Strong troubleshooting skills and ability to work independently in a lab environment.
- Proficiency with version control (Git) and software development environments.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience with photonic device or electro-optic system characterization and validation.
- Familiarity with optical measurement equipment (OSA, optical power meters, lasers).
- Experience with high-speed serial standards: Ethernet (100G+), PCIe, OIF CEI.
- Experience with board-level debug and hardware bring-up using JTAG or I2C/SPI interfaces.
Salary range: $150,000 - $193,000
NOTE TO RECRUITERS:
Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don't send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.
