Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer

Role: Senior Embedded Firmware Engineer

Function: Embedded Firmware Engineering

Location: Bangalore

Type: Full-time

Industry: Telecommunications, Semiconductors, Information Technology & Services

About Company

The company addresses the red-hot market for AI data center infrastructure. It designs, manufactures, and sells photonic interconnect solutions — including pluggable, near-packaged, and co-packaged optics.

The company is a Series C startup backed by top-tier investors including Mayfield and Spark Capital, with $825M in total funding. It is led by seasoned telecom and semiconductor experts from companies like Cisco, Juniper, Meta, Lumentum, and Coherent.

The team uses in-house custom robotics and AI-optimized manufacturing to achieve high yield and rapid innovation. With 120 employees, the company operates with a deeply mission-driven engineering culture spanning optics, silicon, and networking.

Position Overview

This role owns firmware for the optical transceiver control plane — including laser bias control, TEC management, and digital diagnostics — on ARM-based 32-bit microcontrollers embedded in the company's photonic semiconductor products. The engineer will work directly with hardware, DSP, and software teams to deliver reliable, high-performance firmware for next-generation AI data center interconnects. With 10–12 years of embedded firmware experience, this is a high-ownership role with direct influence on product architecture and delivery timelines.

Role & Responsibilities

• Architect, develop, and deliver firmware for optical transceiver control plane functions — including laser bias control, TEC management, and digital diagnostics — on ARM-based 32-bit microcontrollers
• Develop and maintain device drivers, RTOS integrations, and communication protocol stacks (SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet)
• Write, optimize, and debug embedded firmware in C; own the full development lifecycle from design through validation
• Collaborate with hardware, DSP, and software engineers on cross-functional feature definition and integration
• Manage and optimize build environments, makefiles, and toolchains for embedded targets
• Lead and contribute to design reviews, technical documentation, and product delivery schedules
• Apply DSP concepts within firmware to support signal processing requirements of optical transceiver and interconnect products

Must Have Criteria

• 10–12 years of hands-on embedded firmware development on 32-bit microcontrollers, with ARM architecture experience
• Proficiency in C for embedded systems, including memory management, interrupt handling, and low-level hardware interfacing
• Demonstrated experience with RTOS integration and device driver development
• Hands-on implementation of communication protocols: SPI, I2C, UART, and Ethernet
• Experience in networking and/or semiconductor domains
• Working knowledge of DSP concepts applied in embedded firmware contexts
• Proficiency with build environments and makefile management for embedded targets

Nice to Have

• Hands-on experience with optical transceiver control plane firmware — laser bias, TEC control, or digital diagnostics (DDMI/DOM)
• Background in optical technologies — transceivers, photonic engines, or optical interconnects
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electronics, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• Experience at a semiconductor or networking IC company at Series B–D scale

What We Offer

• ESOP participation in a well-funded, growth-stage company
• Opportunity to work on photonic interconnect technology at the frontier of AI infrastructure
• High-ownership role with direct influence on product architecture
• Collaborative team of industry veterans across optics, silicon, and networking
• Career growth backed by top-tier investors