Lead Electrical & Firmware Architect for Laser Systems

Monarch Quantum; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision insurance

Fidelity 401(k) with 4% match

20 PTO days per year

13 paid company holidays

9/80 schedule

Job summary

Monarch Quantum is seeking a Principal Electrical and Firmware Systems Architect in San Diego, CA to own the electrical and firmware architecture of laser and photonic systems. Translate system requirements into electrical/firmware specifications, define FPGA/microcontroller/host partitioning, and drive DAQ/real-time DSP implementations.

You will collaborate with photonics, mechanical, and software teams, lead verification, manage noise and bandwidth budgets, and mentor engineers in a fast-paced

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field (advanced degree preferred).
• Minimum 10 years of experience architecting, designing, and testing electronics and firmware for complex electro-optical, laser, or precision measurement systems.

Responsibilities

• Decompose system requirements into electrical and firmware requirements, specifications, and acceptance criteria.
• Define communications topology and architecture, including internal buses and interfaces.
• Architect analog signal processing, noise budgets, and data conversion.
• Define FPGA architecture and partitioning across FPGA, MCU, and host processing.
• Architect frequency-locking and servo control systems for laser stabilization.
• Define electronics infrastructure: power, grounding, shielding, thermal management, cabling.
• Define and control electrical/firmware interfaces via ICDs with cross‑functional teams.
• Develop integration and verification strategies and system‑level testing on hardware.
• Lead system‑level troubleshooting and root-cause analysis across disciplines.
• Present architecture maturity at SRR/PDR/CDR to leadership and customers.
• Drive design for manufacturability, testability, reliability for production.
• Mentor engineers and foster technical rigor and collaboration.

Skills

Communications topology

Low-noise analog signal processing

FPGA architecture

Power, grounding, shielding

Frequency-locking techniques

Embedded firmware (C/C++)

HDL (VHDL or Verilog)

Lab instrumentation

Technical leadership

System requirements flow‑down

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

VHDL/Verilog toolchains

Job description

Monarch Quantum is seeking a Principal Electrical and Firmware Systems Architect in San Diego, CA to own the electrical and firmware architecture of laser and photonic systems. Translate system requirements into electrical/firmware specifications, define FPGA/microcontroller/host partitioning, and drive DAQ/real-time DSP implementations.

You will collaborate with photonics, mechanical, and software teams, lead verification, manage noise and bandwidth budgets, and mentor engineers in a fast-paced