Optical Firmware Engineer, Principal
Posted May 24, 2026
Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com. We are seeking to hire an Optical Firmware Engineer, Principal develop, optimize, and maintain embedded firmware for optical engines, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) optical modules. This includes control of lasers, modulators, photodetectors, thermal management, calibration, and high-speed link optimization in optical / silicon photonics systems. The role sits at the intersection of embedded systems, photonics, and hardware. Key Responsibilities:
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Design, develop, and debug real-time firmware for optical transceivers or PIC/EIC engines (e.g., in C/C++ for microcontrollers or embedded processors). - Implement algorithms for laser control, automatic power control (APC), temperature compensation, wavelength locking, and link training/adaptation. - Integrate firmware with hardware (DSP, drivers, ADCs/DACs) and higher-level software (e.g., via I2C, SPI, or custom interfaces). - Develop diagnostic, calibration, and telemetry features for manufacturing test, field monitoring, and reliability. - Optimize for low latency, power efficiency, and high reliability in high-speed (400G/800G/1.6T+) optical links. - Collaborate with optical, electrical, DSP, and system validation teams to characterize and tune performance. - Support bring-up, debugging, and qualification of silicon photonics prototypes. - Handle firmware updates, version control, and compliance with standards (e.g., OIF, CMIS).