ASIC High Speed AMS Technical Leader
Cisco SystemsJob Title
ASIC High Speed AMS Technical Leader
Role Summary
Lead analog/mixed-signal (AMS) design and full-chip electrical specification for silicon photonics driver ICs used in high-speed optical transceivers (100G/200G/400G per lambda).
Work on a cross-functional hardware team to define, design, verify, and bring silicon products from concept through tapeout, validation, and production.
Experience Level
Senior-level. Role expects extensive AMS experience - typically many years of high-speed analog/mixed-signal design experience (see Education Requirements for the posting's formal experience guidance).
Responsibilities
Technical and leadership responsibilities for AMS design, verification, and delivery.
- Define and own full-chip electrical specifications and verification test plans across electrical, optical, and product teams.
- Architect and author mixed-signal datapath and control circuit designs (modulator drivers, serializers, PLLs, TIAs, ADC/DAC) optimized for power, performance, testability, and cost.
- Lead design through tapeout: coordinate design, verification, layout sign-off, and DFT strategies.
- Debug complex silicon and system-level issues during bring-up and lab validation; drive yield improvements and failure analysis.
- Mentor and guide analog, digital, and validation engineers; collaborate with architecture and product teams on verification and testability strategies.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and demonstrated abilities.
- Proven expertise in high-speed optical transceiver circuits (modulator drivers, TIAs, CDR, PLLs, ADC/DAC) and mixed-signal datapath design.
- Experience leading designs through full tapeout cycles and making critical design decisions under uncertainty.
- Proficiency with industry AMS/verification tools such as Cadence Virtuoso, Spectre, Calibre, SystemVerilog, and Verilog-AMS.
- Proficiency in scripting or automation using Python or C for design automation and analysis.
- Hands-on experience with lab instrumentation and silicon bring-up (real-time scopes, BERTs, digital comm analyzers) and SI/PI practices.
- Experience with design-for-test (DFT) and test methodology development for large mixed-signal designs.
- Strong collaboration skills to work across distributed teams and multiple sites.
- Nice-to-have: experience with silicon photonics driver ICs, direct-detect module architectures, Verilog-A modeling, and familiarity with optical subsystem models and MSA/IEEE standards.
Education Requirements
Posting specifies formal experience combinations: Bachelor's degree plus ~12 years related experience, Master's plus ~8 years, or PhD plus ~5 years of high-speed AMS design experience. Emphasis on substantial experience in high-speed analog/mixed-signal design for optical transceivers; no specific fields beyond high-speed AMS/silicon photonics were required. (No certifications were specified.)
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).
