Optical Sub-System Architect – Principal Engineer

About This Role

• The Principal Optical Sub-System Architect will help drive the revolution to photonic interconnect for high performance data centers.
• The exceptional candidate will understand and help optimize Optical systems bridging between optical capabilities and data center needs.
• Bandwidth, power, latency, cost trade-offs for optical vs electrical system design including understanding optical packaging, optical thermal issues, connectors, fiber assembly techniques, rack considerations (bend radius), back-plane, front-plane access concerns, manageability and training techniques.
• Knowledge of LPO vs DWDM and CWDM trade-offs is critical.
• Candidate should be able to translate customer requirements (latency, power, footprint and BW) to product requirements and system design.
• As the future is driving toward co-packaged optics, the candidate should have experience and understanding of how co-packaged optics will contribute to the future data center while intersecting with traditional electrical systems and switching networks.
• Understanding photonic standards as well as networking standards.
• Key Responsibilities: Optical Architecture Leadership • Define and drive optical subsystem architecture for the next generation data center. • Design scalable optical hierarchies, including CPUs, GPUs and electrical switches. • Deep knowledge of Packaging optics and the future issues of co-packaged Optics.
• Performance and Efficiency Optimization • Develop strategies for bandwidth optimization, latency reduction, and power efficiency. • Analyze trade-offs between capacity, throughput, and cost for hyperscale deployments.
• Protocol Design • Analysis and recommendations on UAL, UEC, SUE, and proprietary protocol mechanisms and standards. • Technical understanding and analysis capability of PHY components (UCIe, 802.3xx (over SMF and twinax), OIF) • Ensure consistency and reliability across heterogeneous environments.
• Modeling and Simulation • Build analytic performance models for Optical subsystems and validate through simulation. • Conduct workload characterization for AI, HPC, and cloud applications.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration • Work closely with CPU architects, interconnect designers, and software teams to ensure seamless integration. • Partner with vendors.
• Innovation and Research • Explore emerging optical technologies (uLED and others). • Drive R-and-D initiatives for future-proof optical solutions in large-scale data centers.
• Leadership and Mentorship • Provide technical guidance to engineers and influence architectural decisions across teams.
• Additional Skills: • Strong leadership and strategic thinking abilities. • Excellent communication skills for technical and executive audiences. • Ability to influence architectural decisions across multiple teams Qualifications: • Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field. • 12+ years in subsystem architecture and design for CPUs or SoCs. • Proven experience with Optical Photonics. • Deep knowledge of Optical Architecture and standards. • Familiarity with CXL, PCIe, and interconnect technologies. • Experience with performance modeling tools and EDA flows.