Firmware Tech Lead

Senior Principal / Distinguished Firmware Architect — Optical Modules & Optical Engines

Category: Chip Design

Location: San Jose, CA

Experience: 8+ years

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced firmware leader to architect, develop, bring up, and scale embedded firmware for advanced optical modules and optical engines.

This role sits at the center of optical module control, embedded firmware architecture, silicon bring-up, calibration, manufacturing enablement, and production readiness. You will work across module management, CMIS implementation, photonic IC control, custom optical control ASIC requirements, manufacturing and test firmware, and system-level debug.

This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who can define architecture, write and review firmware, guide digital requirements, drive bring-up, and mentor engineers across multiple programs.

You will partner closely with optical systems, DSP, ASIC, RTL, verification, manufacturing, test, calibration, and reliability teams to turn advanced optical platforms into robust production systems.

What You’ll Do

• Architect, develop, debug, and release embedded firmware for QSFP-DD, OSFP, and optical engine platforms
• Define MCU, processor, memory, boot, and peripheral requirements for optical module and optical engine control subsystems
• Generate and own digital requirements for custom optical control ASICs, including control, telemetry, monitoring, interfaces, boot, memory, diagnostics, and testability
• Partner with ASIC, RTL, verification, optical systems, and DSP teams on architecture definition, implementation alignment, bring-up, and debug
• Develop firmware for photonic IC control algorithms and integrated optical control functions
• Specify and integrate DAC/ADC requirements for control, monitoring, calibration, and feedback loops
• Implement and maintain CMIS-compliant firmware for module control, telemetry, diagnostics, state management, and host interfaces
• Lead firmware and digital bring-up for new optical modules, optical engines, and control ASIC platforms
• Develop firmware for manufacturing, screening, test, calibration, and production enablement
• Build and maintain calibration tables, calibration engines, and factory programming flows
• Define and improve firmware development processes, including builds, releases, automated testing, regression coverage, and CI
• Drive root-cause analysis across lab bring-up, qualification, manufacturing, and field-return scenarios
• Mentor engineers through architecture reviews, design reviews, code reviews, debug support, and technical guidance

You May Be a Fit If You Have

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field
• 7+ years of relevant experience for Senior Principal-level scope, or 10+ years for Distinguished-level scope
• Deep experience developing firmware for optical modules, including QSFP-DD, OSFP, and/or optical engines
• Proven experience defining embedded firmware architecture, including MCU or processor selection, memory sizing, boot strategy, and peripheral requirements
• Hands-on experience with ARM and/or RISC-V embedded architectures
• Experience generating digital requirements for custom optical control ASICs
• Strong background in firmware and digital bring-up for complex hardware systems
• Experience implementing CMIS for optical module control, telemetry, diagnostics, state management, and host interfaces
• Experience developing firmware for manufacturing, test, screening, and calibration environments
• Familiarity with calibration tables, calibration engines, and production enablement flows
• Strong knowledge of embedded interfaces such as I2C, I3C, SPI, MDIO, GPIO, and related low-level protocols
• Experience specifying or using DAC/ADC devices for integrated photonic IC control
• Strong proficiency in embedded C/C++ and low-level hardware/firmware debug
• Experience establishing firmware development workflows, automated testing, regression infrastructure, and CI for embedded systems
• Demonstrated success working cross-functionally with optical systems, DSP, ASIC, manufacturing, test, calibration, and reliability teams
• Proven ability to mentor and develop engineers through technical leadership

Strong Candidates May Also Have

• Experience with root of trust, secure boot, and secure firmware upgrade mechanisms
• Experience leading architecture across multiple optical module, optical engine, or optical control ASIC programs
• Experience supporting product qualification, reliability investigations, failure analysis, and field-return debug
• Experience taking firmware from early architecture through lab bring-up, qualification, manufacturing release, and production support
• Familiarity with optical transceiver standards, high-speed module management, and datacenter optical deployment requirements

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means building firmware architecture that scales from early silicon and module bring-up through manufacturing and production deployment.

You will help define the control architecture for advanced optical platforms, create robust firmware for module management and photonic control, drive CMIS compliance, enable calibration and test flows, and establish engineering practices that improve quality across programs.

You will also serve as a technical mentor and trusted cross-functional partner, helping teams move quickly through architecture decisions, bring-up challenges, debug, qualification, and production readiness.

Why This Role Matters

Advanced optical modules and optical engines depend on tight coordination across firmware, silicon, photonics, DSP, manufacturing, and system design.

The firmware architecture is what turns complex hardware into a controllable, diagnosable, manufacturable, and deployable product. It governs how the module boots, calibrates, monitors itself, reports telemetry, manages faults, supports host interfaces, and performs reliably in the field.

This role is an opportunity to lead that architecture end to end and help shape the firmware foundation for next-generation optical platforms.