Hardware Engineer

Salience Labs Ltd; Abingdon; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Salience Labs Ltd is looking for a Hardware Engineer to design and test electronics powering our hybrid photonic-electronic systems. You will contribute to bringing photonic products to high-performance compute systems and perform hands-on lab work at our Oxford office.

You will handle hardware design from spec to schematic capture, with a strong emphasis on PCB layout and testing. This on-site role requires 3+ years in high-speed design and experience working with vendors.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in high-speed digital or analogue design.
• 3+ years bringing up and testing electronic systems.
• Strong diagnostic skills, including hands-on rework.
• Comfort working independently and in small multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong technical, organisational and time management skills.
• Experience working with external vendors for layout, manufacturing, assembly and qualification.
• Experience characterising mechanical and thermal properties of electronic systems.

Responsibilities

• Carry out hardware design from specification to schematic capture (Altium).
• PCB layout experience is a strong advantage.
• Bring up and test new hardware in the lab, focusing on electronics and photonic interaction.
• Diagnose and resolve issues during bring-up and testing.
• Characterise electronic systems and their integration with photonic components.
• Characterise mechanical and thermal properties and their impact on photonic performance.
• Qualify electronic systems for production with external test houses as needed.
• Collaborate with photonics, firmware and test teams to translate requirements into robust hardware.

Skills

High-speed design

FPGA

Digital/Analogue design

Diagnostics

Lab bring-up

Independent work

Teamwork

Time management

Startup environment

PCB layout

Tools

Altium Designer

Job description

About us

Salience Labs is building the optical infrastructure that will power the next generation of AI. Our photonic switching technology delivers the high-speed, ultra-low latency networking fabrics AI datacenters need and can’t get anywhere else. We’re a multi-disciplinary team of physicists, engineers, and machine learning specialists on a mission to remove the bottlenecks holding AI infrastructure back.

Job Overview

As a Hardware Engineer at Salience Labs, you will play a crucial role in designing and testing the electronics that power our hybrid photonic-electronic systems. As an early member of the team, you will contribute directly to our mission of bringing photonic products to high-performance compute systems, particularly those used for AI.

The role offers a varied mix of system design, PCB design, system bring-up and qualification, with a significant share of hands-on lab work at our Oxford office.

What you’ll be doing

• Carry out detailed hardware design, including specification, simulation, schematic capture (using Altium) and component selection. PCB layout experience is a strong advantage

• Bring up and test new hardware in the lab, focusing on the electronics and how they interact with photonic elements

• Diagnose and resolve issues during hardware bring-up and testing

• Characterise new electronic systems and their integration with photonic components

• Characterise the mechanical and thermal properties of our systems and their impact on photonic performance

• Qualify electronic systems for production, working with external test houses as needed

• Work closely with photonics, firmware and test colleagues to turn system requirements into hardware that works first time

What we’re looking for

• 3+ years of experience in high-speed digital or analogue design, including high-speed discrete analogue-to-digital conversion, high-performance FPGAs and high-speed digital interfaces (including Ethernet and DDR)

• 3+ years of experience bringing up and testing new electronic systems

• Strong diagnostic skills, including hands-on rework

• Comfort working both independently and within small, multidisciplinary teams

• Strong technical, organisational and time management skills, with the ability to translate requirements into successful hardware implementations

• Drive, motivation and flexibility to thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment

• Experience with PCB layout

• Experience working with external vendors for layout, manufacturing, assembly and qualification

• Experience characterising the mechanical and thermal properties of electronic systems

This is an "on -site" role with 4/5 days in the office required.