QA Hardware Engineer - Physical Layer (L0/L1) | High-Speed Ethernet

Viavi Solutions; Germany (OH); On-site; USD 102,716 - 136,954; Full time

Job summary

VIAVI seeks an experienced QA Hardware Engineer 3 for the Physical Layer to validate Ethernet L1/L2 interfaces and drive robust test coverage. You will build lab setups, reproduce defects, and collaborate with hardware, software, and application teams to improve product quality.

Ideal candidates bring hands-on experience with high-speed interconnects, protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, and Python scripting for automation, plus strong English and German language skills.

Qualifications

• Degree in electrical engineering, computer science or equivalent work experience.
• Practical experience with hardware bring-up and troubleshooting of high-speed interconnects.
• Familiarity with test tools: protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, BERT testers.
• Experience and understanding of Ethernet L1 Physical layer.
• Understanding of Ethernet L2 Data Link/MAC layer.
• Experience with managed Ethernet transceivers.
• Python scripting for API automation.
• Fluent English & German language skills.

Responsibilities

• Validate Ethernet physical layer hardware interface behavior: link negotiation, signal integrity, state transitions and counters, transceiver operation.
• Reproduce and root-cause hardware/firmware defects through systematic test isolation at the PHY level.
• Build and maintain lab test setups including OSFP and QSFP-DD interfaces.
• Analyze test failures, capture logs, and document defects with clear reproduction steps.
• Collaborate with hardware, software and application teams to triage failures and drive quality.
• Define and review long-term, performance and scalability test scenarios for physical-layer components.
• Derive test requirements from hardware validation reports and specs.
• Contribute to CI/CD test integration for automated regression coverage.

Skills

HW bring-up

High-speed interconnects

Ethernet L1

Ethernet L2

Managed transceivers

Python scripting

English & German

IEEE 802.3

100GE+

Education

Electrical engineering

Computer Science

Tools

Protocol analyzers

Oscilloscopes

BERT testers

Job description

VIAVI seeks an experienced QA Hardware Engineer 3 for the Physical Layer to validate Ethernet L1/L2 interfaces and drive robust test coverage. You will build lab setups, reproduce defects, and collaborate with hardware, software, and application teams to improve product quality.

Ideal candidates bring hands-on experience with high-speed interconnects, protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes, and Python scripting for automation, plus strong English and German language skills.