Principal Hardware/Lead - Opto-E

Molex; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Molex in Fremont, CA, is seeking a Sr/Principal Hardware Engineer to lead hardware development for high-speed optical transceiver modules, drive validation and debugging to production readiness, and collaborate with optical and SI/PI peers to ensure readiness for high-volume manufacturing.

You will design, select components, and implement strategy, while guiding the team through risk and technical decisions and interfacing with customers to address questions and support design wins across

Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering.
• Experience with hardware development for optical transceivers.
• In-depth understanding of transmission line, power integrity, signal integrity.

Responsibilities

• Lead hardware design for high-speed fiber optic transceiver from definition to production readiness.
• Act as technical authority for design architecture and provide guidance for engineering initiatives.
• Lead engineering team in making risk/trade-off decisions.
• Interface with key customers to address technical questions and support design wins.

Skills

Power integrity

Signal integrity

Optical transceivers

High-speed design

Leadership

Education

Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering

Tools

VCSEL development

Job description

Your Job

Molex is rapidly growing our Opto-E business responsible for developing products for 1.6T, 3.2T and beyond. In our Fremont office, we have a dedicated team of engineers. In this role, the Sr/Principal Hardware Engineer will lead hardware development and concentrate on validating and debugging our optical transceiver modules to achieve optimal performance. This Hardware Engineer will work closely with optical, SI/PI peer collectively to ensure readiness of high volume manufacturing.

This job function involves design, component selection and implementation strategy.

Our Team

Molex is an industry leader in transforming optical network infrastructure with an unwavering commitment to speed, reliability, and performance. We proudly engineer high-performance systems for critical, fast-growing industries including data centers, telecom, medical, and industrial automation. Our team develops an advanced portfolio of optical solutions, ranging from cutting-edge optical connectivity products—such as expanded beam connectors, fiber management, adapters, and hybrid copper/fiber solutions for medical systems—to end-to-end optoelectronic solutions featuring cages, connectors, optical transceivers, and cable assemblies. Supporting extreme data rates from 100 Mbps to 1.6 Tbps across long‑haul distances up to 80km+, we deliver complete wavelength management and turnkey OEM solutions. Come join Molex and help build the future of global connectivity.

What You Will Do

• Lead hardware design for high speed fiber optic transceiver from definition, design, and testing for production readiness
• Perform as technical authority for design architecture and provide technical guidance for engineering initiatives
• Lead engineering team in making risk/trade off decision
• Anticipate and resolve problems in timely manner and conduct routine design meeting
• Ensure the success of hardware development in compliance with product life cycle procedure
• Manage the key suppliers to in line with project objectives
• Interface with key customers to address technical questions, issues and support design win.
• Escalate to management for critical risk management and conflict resolutions

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering or similar
• Hardware development experience with optical transceivers or similar optical product
• In-depth understanding of transmission line, power integrity, signal integrity

What Will Put You Ahead

• Experience with Shortwave (VCSEL) product development

Hiring Philosophy

All Koch companies value diversity of thought, perspectives, aptitudes, experiences, and backgrounds. We are Military Ready and Second Chance employers. Learn more about our hiring philosophy here.

Who We Are

At Koch, employees are empowered to do what they do best to make life better. Learn how our business philosophy helps employees unleash their potential while creating value for themselves and the company.

Our Benefits

• medical, dental, vision, flexible spending and health savings accounts, life insurance, ADD, disability, retirement, paid vacation/time off, educational assistance, and may also include infertility assistance, paid parental leave and adoption assistance. Specific eligibility criteria is set by the applicable Summary Plan Description, policy or guideline and benefits may vary by geographic region.
• Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E-Verify. Please click here for additional information. (For Illinois E-Verify information click here, aquí, or tu).

For this role, we anticipate paying $200,000 - $275,000 per year. This role is eligible for variable pay, issued as a monetary bonus or in another form.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.