Firmware Engineer – Optical Transceivers

Firmware Engineer – Optical Transceivers

Location: San Jose, CA (Primarily onsite, with reasonable flexibility)

Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Salary: $100-150k base + bonus (2-3 months base salary) + benefits (PTO, 401K, Insurance, etc.)

Industry: Telecommunications

Report to: The head of the local U.S. R&D and FAE team. The team currently has around 7–8 members and is continuing to expand.

Experience Level: 2–3 years in optical transceiver firmware development

Note: Must have legal authorization to work in the United States. No Corp-to-Corp (C2C/C2H) or Visa sponsorship provided.

Position Overview:

We are seeking a motivated Firmware Engineer to join our optical transceiver development team. The ideal candidate will have 2–3 years of hands-on experience in embedded firmware design for optical or high-speed communication modules. You will collaborate closely with our hardware, optics, and test teams to implement and optimize control algorithms, monitoring functions, and communication protocols for our optical transceivers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop, test, and maintain embedded firmware for optical transceiver modules (10G–1.6T).
• Implement control and monitoring logic for lasers, TECs, and photodiodes.
• Integrate and debug low-level drivers (I²C, SPI, MDIO, etc.) and state machines.
• Support implementation of industry standards such as CMIS, SFF, and IEEE specifications.
• Collaborate with hardware and test engineers to bring up new module designs.
• Participate in firmware validation and system performance testing.
• Contribute to code reviews, documentation, and continuous improvement processes.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 2–3 years of experience in embedded firmware development for optical transceivers or similar hardware.
• Proficiency in C and familiarity with embedded development tools (Keil, IAR, GCC, etc.).
• Solid understanding of digital communication protocols (I²C, SPI, UART).
• Basic knowledge of optical module architecture and control (laser bias, temperature control, diagnostics).
• Experience with lab instruments such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and power meters.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with CMIS or SFF MSA-based transceiver firmware.
• Knowledge of DSP-based PAM4 optical modules and SerDes control interfaces.
• Familiarity with Python scripting for automation and test support.
• Understanding of hardware bring-up and system-level integration.