Sr. Staff Engineer, Hardware Module Integration

Ayar Labs; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

A cutting-edge technology company in San Jose is seeking a highly skilled Electrical & Firmware Engineer. In this role, you'll design, develop, and support embedded electronic systems, focusing on hardware design and firmware development. You will work across the product lifecycle while collaborating with cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate has a degree in EE or Computer Engineering, at least 5 years of experience in embedded systems development, and strong skills in firmware programming. A competitive salary range of $180,000 - $223,000 is offered.

Qualifications

• 5+ years industry experience required.
• Experience in embedded systems development and electronics design essential.
• Strong understanding of digital and analog fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop analog and digital circuits.
• Develop embedded firmware in C/C++ for real-time systems.
• Conduct design verification and validation.

Skills

Embedded systems development

Electronics design

Troubleshooting complex hardware

Scripting skills (Python, MATLAB)

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in EE, Computer Engineering, or related fields

Tools

C/C++

Microcontrollers

Lab equipment

Job description

Location: San Jose, CA (onsite)

Ayar Labs is shattering AI data bottlenecks by moving data at the speed of light. As pioneers of co-packaged optics (CPO), we are using light instead of electricity to move data faster, further, and with a fraction of the energy needed to fuel the explosive growth of AI models.

Backed by industry giants like NVIDIA, AMD and Intel and manufactured in partnership with the world’s leading semiconductor ecosystem, Ayar Labs’ co-packaged optics solution is key to unleashing next-generation AI scale-up architectures.

We are seeking a highly skilled Electrical & Firmware Engineer to design, develop, and support embedded electronic systems from concept through production. This role combines hands-on hardware design with low-level firmware development to deliver reliable, high-performance products. This role will also be responsible for defining high-performance laser driver architectures, control loops, and monitoring firmware to meet aggressive requirements for linewidth, RIN, power stability, and reliability in datacenter and telecom environments.

The ideal candidate is comfortable working across the full product lifecycle, including prototyping, testing, debugging, and cross-functional collaboration. This role operates at a system-architecture level and partners closely with laser device, optics, packaging, reliability, and manufacturing teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop analog and digital circuits, including schematic capture and pcb layout support
• Select and integrate components such as microcontrollers, sensors, power systems, and communication interfaces
• Develop embedded firmware in C/C++ (or similar) for real-time systems
• Implement and maintain device drivers, bootloaders, and communication protocols (SPI, I2C etc)
• Perform hardware bring up, debugging, and root cause analysis using lab equipment
• Collaborate with mechanical, system (rack/chassis) electrical, manufacturing and test teams to ensure successful product integration, both on-site and offsites in Asia
• Conduct design verification, validation, testing, and documentation
• Optimize designs for performance, reliability, manufacturability, and cost
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in EE, Computer Engineering, or related fields
• 5+ years industry experience
• Experience in embedded systems development and electronics design
• Strong understanding of digital and analog fundamentals
• Experience with microcontrollers and hardware debugging
• Familiarity with communication protocols and real-time systems
• Ability to troubleshoot complex hardware and software interactions
• Scripting skills (Python, MATLAB etc.)
  
  

Salary Range: $180,000 - $223,000

Note To Recruiters

Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don’t send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.

Ayar Labs is an 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.