Principal Engineer Jobs in Santa Clara, CA

INTRODUCTION

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ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Engineer for Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) and Near-Packaged Optics (NPO) to lead the architecture, design, implementation, integration, and validation of next-generation optical interconnect solutions for AI scale-up and scale-out platforms.
This role will provide end-to-end technical leadership across optical engines, high-speed electrical interfaces, ASIC integration, package and board design, signal integrity, power integrity, thermal and mechanical design, firmware, diagnostics, and system-level validation. The successful candidate will translate platform requirements into robust CPO and NPO architectures and drive those architectures from early concept and specification development through design implementation, platform bring-up, qualification, and production readiness.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in CPO and NPO system architecture, silicon photonics, optical-engine integration, 100G and 200G per-lane PAM4 interfaces, 400G, 800G, and 1.6T optical technologies, high-speed SerDes, channel design, FEC, link performance, and system-level debug.
You will collaborate closely with architecture, ASIC, package, board, signal integrity, power integrity, thermal, mechanical, firmware, diagnostics, platform engineering, manufacturing, reliability, and external technology partners. You will establish technical requirements, resolve complex cross-domain issues, and influence AMD’s long-term optical interconnect architecture and technology roadmap.

• Lead the architecture, design, implementation, integration, and validation of CPO and NPO solutions for next-generation AI scale-up and scale-out platforms.
• Define end-to-end system requirements for CPO and NPO implementations, including optical, electrical, mechanical, thermal, power, firmware, reliability, serviceability, and manufacturing requirements.
• Own the technical development of CPO and NPO solutions from early feasibility studies and architecture definition through detailed design, prototype bring-up, qualification, and production readiness.
• Develop and maintain CPO and NPO interface specifications, including optical-engine interfaces, high-speed electrical interfaces, management interfaces, control sequencing, reference clocks, reset behavior, fault handling, telemetry, and diagnostics.
• Lead the integration of optical engines, electrical integrated circuits, ASICs, packages, substrates, sockets, host boards, interposers, connectors, fibers, external laser sources, cooling solutions, and mechanical retention structures.
• Define and optimize 100G and 200G per-lane PAM4 electrical and optical link architectures supporting 400G, 800G, 1.6T, and future interconnect solutions.
• Establish electrical channel budgets and performance requirements for package, socket, connector, board, cable, and optical-engine interfaces.
• Drive SerDes and link optimization, including TX and RX equalization, link training, eye analysis, jitter analysis, BER characterization, FEC performance, latency, margining, and long-term link stability.
• Define optical link budgets and performance requirements, including transmitter power, extinction ratio, optical modulation amplitude, receiver sensitivity, stressed receiver performance, return loss, reflectance, insertion loss, crosstalk, and fiber connectivity.
• Evaluate architectural tradeoffs among CPO, NPO, onboard optics, pluggable optics, linear pluggable optics, retimed optics, co-packaged copper, and other emerging interconnect technologies.
• Lead system-level feasibility and tradeoff studies covering bandwidth density, reach, latency, power efficiency, thermal performance, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, cost, and time to market.
• Partner with ASIC and SerDes teams to define electrical interface requirements, channel assumptions, equalization capabilities, link-training behavior, FEC architecture, clocking strategy, and diagnostic features.
• Collaborate with package, board, SI, and PI teams to optimize high-speed channel performance, power delivery, reference-clock quality, crosstalk, jitter tolerance, and overall link margin.
• Work with thermal and mechanical engineering teams to define cooling, heat-spreading, fiber-routing, connectorization, mechanical-tolerance, assembly, and serviceability requirements.
• Define external laser source architectures and requirements, including optical power delivery, laser safety, redundancy, control, monitoring, connectorization, fiber management, and fault handling.
• Develop comprehensive design verification and validation plans for component, subsystem, and full-platform testing.
• Drive electrical and optical characterization using advanced laboratory equipment, including DCA-X systems, BERTs, real-time oscilloscopes, optical spectrum analyzers, optical power meters, VNA and TDR systems, and compliance test platforms.
• Define validation methodologies for BER, FEC performance, eye margin, jitter, channel margin, link stability, traffic stress, thermal corners, voltage corners, process variation, fault recovery, and long-duration operation.
• Lead interoperability, compliance, and ecosystem validation activities with optical-engine suppliers, silicon photonics providers, connector and fiber vendors, laser suppliers, manufacturing partners, and system customers.
• Ensure alignment with applicable IEEE, OIF, CMIS, MSA, and industry standards while identifying areas where CPO and NPO implementations require platform-specific requirements or extensions.
• Develop reference architectures, design guidelines, interface-control documents, validation specifications, compliance methodologies, and integration best practices.
• Drive implementation readiness through architecture reviews, design reviews, schematic and layout reviews, SI and PI reviews, thermal reviews, FMEA activities, validation reviews, and production-readiness assessments.
• Identify critical technical risks and develop mitigation plans related to link margin, thermal performance, power delivery, optical coupling, fiber attach, external laser operation, component variation, aging, reliability, manufacturing yield, and field serviceability.
• Partner with manufacturing, quality, and reliability teams to define qualification requirements, test coverage, screening strategies, failure-analysis processes, and production monitoring.
• Develop Python-based automation for test execution, equipment control, data collection, statistical analysis, characterization, visualization, and reporting.
• Drive issue resolution and technical closure with external suppliers and ecosystem partners, including clear ownership, root-cause analysis, corrective actions, and validation of implemented fixes.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

12+ years of experience in optical networking, silicon photonics, high-speed hardware design, SerDes architecture, optical-system integration, package or board design, or system-level interconnect development.
Significant experience leading complex hardware technologies from architecture and specification through implementation, validation, qualification, and production deployment.
Deep understanding of CPO, NPO, onboard optics, optical-engine architectures, silicon photonics, external laser sources, and high-density fiber connectivity.
Hands-on experience with 100G and 200G per-lane PAM4 electrical and optical interfaces.
Strong knowledge of 400G, 800G, 1.6T, and emerging next-generation optical interconnect technologies.
Expertise in high-speed SerDes operation, including TX and RX equalization, link training, eye diagrams, jitter analysis, BER testing, FEC, error monitoring, and margin characterization.
Strong understanding of electrical channel design, including insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk, impedance discontinuities, package loss, socket loss, PCB loss, connector performance, and channel operating margin.
Strong understanding of optical-link engineering, including optical power budgets, transmitter and receiver performance, optical modulation, receiver sensitivity, stressed-eye performance, fiber loss, connector loss, reflectance, crosstalk, and wavelength-dependent behavior.
Experience defining high-speed electrical and optical interface specifications, compliance points, test methodologies, and validation limits.
Knowledge of FEC architectures, pre-FEC BER, post-FEC BER, error distributions, burst-error behavior, FEC latency, link-layer retry, and system-level reliability tradeoffs.
Experience integrating optical engines or high-speed electrical devices near or within ASIC packages, including package, substrate, socket, board, connector, power, thermal, and mechanical considerations.
Familiarity with external laser source architectures, laser safety, redundancy, control, power monitoring, fiber routing, and optical fault handling.
Working knowledge of IEEE Ethernet standards, OIF implementation agreements, CMIS, relevant MSAs, and high-speed electrical and optical compliance methodologies.
Hands-on experience with high-speed laboratory equipment, including DCA-X systems, BERTs, real-time oscilloscopes, optical spectrum analyzers, optical power meters, VNA and TDR systems, and thermal characterization tools.
Strong understanding of signal integrity and power integrity fundamentals, including jitter, noise, crosstalk, power-rail variation, reference-clock quality, channel margin, and their impact on high-speed link performance.
Experience with thermal and mechanical design considerations for high-density optical integration, including cooling, heat spreading, fiber routing, connector access, assembly tolerances, and serviceability.
Experience with component and system-level reliability analysis, including design margins, environmental stress, aging, failure mechanisms, FMEA, qualification planning, and production monitoring.
Proven ability to lead complex system bring-up and debug activities across ASIC, package, board, optical, firmware, software, mechanical, thermal, and platform teams.
Experience collaborating with optical-engine suppliers, silicon photonics providers, laser suppliers, connector and fiber vendors, manufacturing partners, standards organizations, customers, and ecosystem partners.
Proficiency in Python or similar programming languages for laboratory automation, data analysis, visualization, and reporting.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to resolve complex multidisciplinary issues.
Strong technical leadership and mentoring skills, with demonstrated success influencing teams beyond direct organizational boundaries.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical information to engineering teams, senior leadership, customers, and external partners.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

B.S. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics, Photonics, Applied Physics, or a related technical discipline.
Ph.D. or equivalent industry experience is preferred.

BENEFITS

Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD’s “Responsible AI Policy” is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.