Principal Hardware Engineer
Principal-level hardware engineer providing technical leadership for next-generation coherent pluggable transceivers and optical transport/DWDM systems for metro, long-haul, and data-center interconnect. Day to day: high-speed board architecture and design, signal/power integrity analysis, lab validation, and mentoring across optical, FPGA, software, and manufacturing teams.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Atlanta, United States
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Principal
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Hardware
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, or related discipline
- 10+ years of hardware engineering experience in telecommunications, networking, or optical communications
- Significant experience designing high-speed electronic hardware and optical networking systems
- Proven experience developing coherent optical transceivers, optical transport platforms, or DWDM networking products
- Demonstrated success leading complex product developments from concept through production release
- Expertise in coherent optical communications and pluggable transceiver technologies
- Strong knowledge of DWDM transport systems and optical networking architectures
- Experience with high-speed board design, signal integrity, and RF design techniques
- Proficiency with schematic capture and simulation tools such as Xpedition, HFSS, ADS, or HyperLynx
- Strong understanding of S-parameters, impedance matching, high-speed serial interfaces, optical link budgets, and mixed-signal design
- Experience with laboratory characterization and optical test equipment
- Knowledge of manufacturing processes, DFM, DFT, and product qualification methodologies
- Strong communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills
- Proven coaching and mentoring capabilities
Nice to have
- Master's or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, or Physics
- Experience supporting hyperscale, carrier, or service provider optical networks
- Familiarity with automation, scripting, and data analysis tools
- Experience collaborating with global engineering and manufacturing teams
Full description
Welcome!
Our Growth is Creating Great Opportunities!
Our team is expanding, and we want to hire the most talented people we can. Continued success depends on it! Once you've had a chance to explore our current open positions, apply to the ones you feel suit you best and keep track of both your progress in the selection process, and new postings that might interest you!
Thanks for your interest in working on our team!
Position Summary
ADTRAN is seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to provide technical leadership in the development of next-generation Optical Transport and Coherent Pluggable solutions for metro, core, long-haul, and data center interconnect applications. This role is responsible for the architecture, design, validation, and production support of advanced optical networking products, including coherent transceivers, DWDM systems, and optical transport platforms. The successful candidate will serve as a subject matter expert and collaborate across optical, electrical, firmware, FPGA, software, mechanical, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams to deliver innovative, high-performance networking solutions.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership
- Lead the hardware architecture and design of coherent pluggable transceivers and optical transport subsystems.
- Drive technical decisions related to high-speed digital, RF, mixed-signal, and optical hardware design.
- Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers across multiple product development teams.
- Serve as the primary technical resource for complex engineering challenges and design reviews.
- Evaluate emerging technologies, components, and architectures to support future product roadmaps.
Hardware Design & Development
- Develop system architectures, block diagrams, schematics, and detailed hardware specifications.
- Design and validate high-speed circuit boards supporting coherent optical communication systems.
- Lead signal integrity, power integrity, and electromagnetic compatibility analyses.
- Collaborate with PCB layout engineers to optimize designs for performance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost.
- Oversee hardware integration, verification, qualification, and release activities throughout the product lifecycle.
- Support new product introductions and production transfers to manufacturing partners.
Optical Transport Systems
- Define and evaluate optical subsystem requirements including:
- Coherent pluggable modules
- DWDM transport systems
- Optical amplifiers
- ROADM technologies
- Wavelength-selective switches
- Laser and photodetector-based subsystems