Sr. Engineer, Embedded Firmware

Ayar Labs; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 192,000; Full time

Job summary

A cutting-edge technology company in San Jose is seeking a Sr. Engineer - Embedded Firmware to lead firmware development for innovative optical interconnect products. You will work closely with cross-functional teams and mentor junior engineers, all while leveraging your expertise in embedded systems and firmware development. Ideal candidates should have a Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering and at least 2 years of experience. The role offers a competitive salary in the range of $160,000 - $192,000.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in embedded systems.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Experience with firmware debugging tools.

Responsibilities

• Develop and optimize firmware for complex electronic-photonics chips.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to achieve project goals.
• Mentor junior engineers.

Skills

bare-metal embedded firmware development

programming in C

hands-on and proactive approach

experience with microcontrollers

Git

JIRA

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field

Tools

CI/CD tools

Job description

Position: Sr. Engineer - Embedded Firmware

Location: San Jose, CA

Job Id: 441

Sr. Engineer, Embedded Firmware

Location: San Jose, CA (on-site 3-4 days per week)

Ayar Labs is revolutionizing the world of optical interconnect technology with our cutting‑edge electro‑photonic chips! We are seeking an exceptional Firmware Engineer to own the firmware development lifecycle for our groundbreaking products.

In this critical role, you will drive firmware design from inception to customer deployment, ensuring seamless hardware validation and integration. This is a unique opportunity to leverage your expertise in embedded systems, multi‑chip package environments, and high‑speed SerDes to shape the future of optical interconnect.

Essential Functions

• Firmware Architecture: Collaborate closely with analog/mixed‑signal, digital, and photonic block designers to develop sophisticated control algorithms for our photonic circuits and establish the micro‑architecture and embedded requirements for our multi‑chip package systems.
• Drive embedded firmware development: Design, develop, and optimize firmware for controlling complex electronic‑photonics chips featuring multiple high‑speed SerDes.
• Provide Technical Leadership: Mentor and guide junior engineers, contributing to their professional growth and development.
• Collaborate Cross‑Functionally: Partner effectively with diverse teams, including hardware, software, validation, and systems engineers, to achieve project goals.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's in Electrical/Computer Engineering or a related field with 2+ years of experience.
• Proven expertise in bare‑metal embedded firmware development, with strong programming skills in C.
• Hands‑on, proactive approach with the ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, dynamic startup environment.
• Experience with various microcontrollers and firmware debugging tools.
• Proficiency with modern version control workflows (e.g., Git).
• Familiarity with project management tools (JIRA) and CI/CD tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in embedded firmware development for high‑speed electronics and photonics applications.
• Silicon bring‑up experience for high‑speed SerDes and photonics applications.
• Experience in scripting with high level language like Python.
• Experience with Make‑based build flows.
• Writing firmware optimized for ARM CPUs.
• Ability to own architecture and development of firmware modules from scratch.

Salary range: $160,000 - $192,000

About Ayar Labs

At Ayar Labs we’re about to revolutionize computing by moving data with light. We’re unleashing processing power for artificial intelligence, high performance computing, cloud and telecommunications by removing the bottlenecks created by today’s electrical I/O – making it possible to continue scaling computing system performance. Ayar Labs is the first to deliver an optical I/O solution that combines in‑package optical I/O chiplets and multi‑wavelength remote light sources to replace traditional electrical I/O. This silicon photonics‑based I/O solution enables chips to communicate with each other from millimeters to kilometers, delivering orders of magnitude improvements in latency, bandwidth density, and power consumption.

With our strong collaborations with industry leaders and government, our deep ties to MIT and UC Berkeley, and our commitment to hiring the best engineers in photonics and electronics, joining our team gives you the opportunity to collaborate with renowned experts on challenging, paradigm‑shifting work.

Ayar Labs is an affirmative action/Equal Opportunity Employer and is strongly committed to all policies which will afford equal opportunity employment to all qualified persons without regard to age, sex, national origin, race, color, ethnicity, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. It is the policy of Ayar Labs to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. Veterans are more than welcome and encouraged to apply.