Analog/Mixed-Signal IC Design Engineer — Acacia
Cisco SystemsJob Title
Analog/Mixed-Signal IC Design Engineer — Acacia
Role Summary
Join Acacia's mixed-signal IC design team to architect, design, layout, measure and productize ultra-deep-submicron CMOS analog/mixed-signal circuits for high-speed optical transceivers (100G–1.6T+). The role requires cross-functional collaboration with digital/DSP, system, package and module teams.
This is a hybrid role (three days per week in the San Jose, CA office) focused on delivering production-ready high-speed AMS blocks and ensuring signal and power integrity for module integration.
Experience Level
Senior — role expects senior-level experience (seniority supported by minimum qualifications requiring multiple years of post-degree professional experience).
Responsibilities
Design, validate and deliver complex mixed-signal ASIC blocks and lead technical efforts within the IC team.
- Architect, design, simulate, layout and characterize high-speed analog/mixed-signal circuits and blocks from concept through production.
- Lead design effort for large blocks on complex chips; set methodology, track deliverables, and participate in peer reviews.
- Mentor junior engineers and coordinate cross-team integration with digital/DSP, packaging, hardware and module teams.
- Collaborate with packaging and hardware teams to meet signal and power integrity specifications.
- Develop test plans and execute laboratory validation, including preparation of test setups and measurement of silicon.
- Address manufacturability concerns: PVT characterization, electromigration, self-heating and IR drop analysis.
Requirements
Core technical requirements and preferred skills. Education and degree-based experience requirements are summarized separately below.
Must-have
- Proven experience designing, simulating and measuring high-speed ICs; hands-on with at least three of the following areas: high-speed serial links (SERDES, ADC/DAC), modeling for system link simulations, high-performance output drivers, PLLs, clock distribution, opamps/PGAs, and equalization techniques.
- Experience developing high-speed AMS circuits (serdes, drivers, PLLs, clocking, equalizers) for electrical or optical transceiver applications.
- Practical mixed-signal layout and floorplanning experience addressing high-frequency routing, power/ground partitioning and passive component placement.
- Laboratory validation skills including test setup construction and ESD-aware practices.
Nice-to-have
- Experience with FinFET or GAA process technologies.
- Experience with design-for-manufacturability flows and advanced characterization across PVT, electromigration and IR drop.
- Familiarity with industry tools: Cadence Virtuoso, Spectre/APS/SpectreX, Calibre, EMX, AMS mixed-signal simulation flows, and MATLAB.
- Experience in electrical transceiver applications (backplane and cable communications).
Education Requirements
Minimum academic requirements: Bachelor's degree plus 8 years of related experience, Master's degree plus 6 years of related experience, or PhD plus 3 years of related experience. (Degrees explicitly required as listed above.)
About the Company
Company: Cisco Systems
Headquarters: San Jose, CA, United States
Cisco Systems is a global technology company that designs and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, software, and services. It provides enterprise and service-provider networking, security, collaboration, and optical communications solutions (including Acacia Communications technologies for high-speed optical interconnects).
