Senior HW Engineer – PCB Analog Design

The OpportunityAt the centre of an optical computer sits a set of circuits that have to read, drive and hold steady some very small, very fast signals: photodetector front ends, laser and modulator drives, precision converter interfaces, and the quiet power and references underneath them. This role owns them, at board level, from the optical requirement through to the production build.The RoleYou will design the board-level analog and mixed-signal circuits that connect our electronics to light, and take them the whole way: specification, simulation, layout guidance, lab bring-up, characterisation and production. You will agree the optical requirements - optical power budgets, bandwidth, noise, linearity - with the photonics and system teams, and turn them into analog architectures and circuit specifications.What is genuinely hard about it is working at the boundary between optics, mixed-signal and high-speed digital, where noise budgets are tight and the measurement is as demanding as the design. A microvolt-level front end does not care that the same board carries high-current switching rails; getting both right on one stackup is the job.By month six, you will have characterised at least one full analog subsystem on the bench, correlated it with simulation across corners, and put the layout constraints and test procedures in place that other engineers can follow.What You'll DoDesign board-level analog and mixed-signal circuits: photodiode front ends, TIAs, ADC/DAC driver and reconstruction stages, laser drivers, modulator drivers and bias networks.Translate photonic system requirements into analog specifications and architectures with the photonics and system teams.Design low-noise power delivery for sensitive circuits: LDO post-regulation, filtering, precision voltage and current references, grounding and partitioning schemes.Design control loops and precision circuits for photonic components: TEC and temperature control, laser current control, monitor photodiode