Control Systems & Embedded Software Technical Leader, Acacia

Cisco Systems, Inc; Maynard (MA); On-site; USD 166,000 - 238,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company matching

Paid parental leave

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Job summary

Acacia, part of Cisco, is a leader in high‑speed optical transceivers and interconnects, expanding into data center fabrics as AI workloads grow. Joining Acacia’s Software team in Maynard, MA means collaborating with world-class engineers to push real-time embedded systems and control algorithms for optical modules.

The role focuses on design and implementation of PID controllers, bare‑metal and RTOS firmware, and reliable firmware releases for high‑performance hardware.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronics, or Computer Engineering or related field with 8+ years of professional experience.
• 6+ years in low-level embedded C and C++ programming for physical hardware control.
• 5+ years development of embedded firmware on bare-metal systems and real-time operating systems (RTOS such as VxWorks, FreeRTOS, ThreadX, or similar).
• Design, implementation and tuning real-time control systems (e.g., closed-loop feedback, PID control algorithms, or motion/thermal control loops) on embedded microcontrollers (such as ARM Cortex-M or Cortex-R).
• Ability to work 100% onsite during the initial one-year onboarding period, (with hybrid flexibility available thereafter).

Responsibilities

• Design, tune, and optimize real-time closed-loop control algorithms on bare-metal and RTOS microcontroller platforms.
• Develop highly efficient, compact embedded C/C++ firmware to configure, monitor, and calibrate hardware subsystems on ARM cores.
• Collaborate with Hardware, Optics, and Calibration teams to bring up new boards and debug electro-optical interactions.
• Implement firmware state machines, low-level peripheral drivers, and high-reliability data/control paths.
• Own critical firmware features from algorithm simulation to production release, ensuring reliability under demanding optical conditions.

Skills

Embedded C

Embedded C++

RTOS development

ARM Cortex-M/R

Control theory

On-site work

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Electronics, or Computer Engineering

Tools

Git

Jira

Perforce

Python

MATLAB

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Optical spectrum analyzers

Job description

Meet the Team

Acacia (part of Cisco) is the industry market leader and pioneer in high-speed coherent optical transceivers and pluggable optical interconnects. Acacia’s revolutionary optical solutions are deployed across all major global hyperscale cloud providers and telecommunications networks, interconnecting data centers across metropolitan spans, thousands of kilometers of terrestrial fiber, and deep submarine links.

With the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads driving unprecedented bandwidth requirements, Acacia’s high-speed optical transceivers are expanding into next-generation data center fabrics and high-performance compute clusters. In addition to powering deep-space optical communication systems, Acacia is leading the client-side optics market with breakthrough PAM4 DSP architectures, including industry-first 1.6T PAM4 DSP platforms.

Joining Acacia’s Software team in Maynard, MA means collaborating with world-class engineers to push the physical and algorithmic boundaries of optical networking.

Your Impact

As a Control Systems & Embedded Software Technical Leader, you will be a vital technical specialist responsible for designing and implementing high-speed closed-loop control systems, PID algorithms, and real-time embedded firmware that govern Acacia’s high-performance optical modules and transceivers. In this hands-on engineering specialist role, you will:

• Design, tune, and optimize real-time closed-loop control algorithms (PID, motion control, temperature, and optical power stabilization) operating directly on bare-metal and RTOS microcontroller platforms.
• Develop highly efficient, compact embedded C/C++ firmware to configure, monitor, and calibrate hardware subsystems across ARM Cortex-M and Cortex-R cores.
• Work closely with Hardware, Optics, and Calibration teams to bring up new boards, characterize feedback loops, and debug electro-optical interactions.
• Implement firmware state machines, low-level peripheral drivers, and high-reliability data/control paths.
• Own critical firmware features from algorithm simulation to production release, ensuring the highest reliability under demanding and optical conditions.

Minimum Qualifications (Objective Requirements)

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronics, or Computer Engineering or related field with 8+ years of professional experience.
• 6+ years in low-level embedded C and C++ programming for physical hardware control.
• 5+ years development of embedded firmware on bare-metal systems and real-time operating systems (RTOS such as VxWorks, FreeRTOS, ThreadX, or similar).
• Design, implementation and tuning real-time control systems (e.g., closed-loop feedback, PID control algorithms, or motion/thermal control loops) on embedded microcontrollers (such as ARM Cortex-M or Cortex-R).
• Ability to work 100% onsite during the initial one-year onboarding period, (with hybrid flexibility available thereafter).

Preferred Qualifications

• Development of control firmware for optical transceivers, laser controllers, optical amplifiers, or telecommunications hardware.
• Expertise with schematic reading, board bring-up, and lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, optical spectrum analyzers).
• Development of multithreaded control-plane firmware, interrupt handlers, and complex finite state machines.
• Proficiency with version control (Git, Jira, Perforce) and test automation/data analysis scripting (Python, MATLAB).
• Background in semiconductor devices, hardware startups, sensor integration, or automated test platforms.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $166,300.00 to $238,300.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non‑quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non‑quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$186,900.00 - $307,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$166,300.00 - $274,100.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non‑exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.