Staff Hardware Design Engineer

Job Title

Staff Hardware Design Engineer

Role Summary

The Staff Hardware Design Engineer will own hardware designs for electronics that form part of a photonics-based quantum computer. This role works on analog and digital PCB designs and test setups and collaborates with firmware, optical, thermal, and mechanical engineers.

Primary mission: deliver robust hardware designs that meet system architecture requirements and support transition to volume manufacturing.

Experience Level

Senior-level — 7+ years of relevant product development experience, including release to volume manufacturing for commercial products.

Responsibilities

Design, test, and document electronics that integrate with silicon photonic systems.

• Create schematics and oversee PCB layout for analog and digital circuitry, including high-speed transceivers, 10+ Gbps electrical and optical links, FPGAs, and microcontrollers.
• Design power distribution, filters, inrush current limiters, and clock distribution networks.
• Ensure signal integrity and EMI suppression are addressed in designs.
• Develop and build test setups for electro-optic module validation.
• Characterize, debug, and optimize circuitry using oscilloscopes, sampling scopes, vector network analyzers, signal generators, multimeters, and DC power supplies.
• Develop measurement software and analyze data to extract performance metrics.
• Maintain detailed design documentation, test reports, and change records.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience relevant to high-speed mixed-signal hardware design and testing.

• 7+ years experience in product development and taking hardware to volume manufacturing.
• Proven experience with PCB schematic capture and layout for high-speed analog and digital circuits.
• Experience with high-speed transceivers, 10+ Gbps links, FPGA integration, and clock distribution.
• Strong signal integrity, EMI mitigation, and power-distribution design skills.
• Hands-on test and characterization experience with oscilloscopes, VNAs, signal generators, and related lab equipment.
• Ability to develop scripts or software to automate measurements and analyze test data.
• Clear technical documentation and version-controlled design record keeping.
• Experience working in cross-functional engineering teams (firmware, optical, mechanical, thermal).
• Nice-to-have: prior experience with electro-optic modules, cryogenic-compatible electronics, or semiconductor manufacturing supply chains.

Education Requirements

Master's or Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related technical field — or equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: PsiQuantum

Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA, United States

PsiQuantum develops silicon-photonic quantum computers aimed at building million-qubit, fault-tolerant systems. Founded in 2016, the company combines semiconductor manufacturing processes, photonic hardware, and quantum software to scale quantum systems for commercial and government applications.