Hardware Engineering Technical Leader

Meet the Team

Acacia, a Cisco company, is a market leader in high-speed coherent optical transceivers and a pioneer in coherent pluggable transceiver technology. Its coherent solutions are deployed by every major hyperscale cloud provider, enabling data center interconnects spanning from a few kilometers to thousands of kilometers, as well as long-haul and submarine networks. The rapid growth of AI infrastructure has significantly increased demand for Acacia’s coherent transceivers. Beyond terrestrial networking, Acacia’s technology is also being adopted for space applications and is expected to play an increasing role within data centers as interconnect speeds continue to scale. In addition to its leadership in coherent optics, Acacia is expanding into the PAM4 client optics market and is well positioned to become a leading provider of PAM4 solutions, including next-generation 1.6T PAM4 DSPs.

About the Role

As a Senior Photonics Packaging Engineer on the Acacia Packaging Engineering team, you will join a multidisciplinary group of optical, mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing engineers focused on developing next-generation optical communication products. In this role, you will work closely with Acacia's Silicon Photonics (PIC) development team to drive new product designs and collaborate with Product Engineering and Quality teams to ensure seamless transfer into manufacturing. You will play a critical role in the design, development, qualification, and production ramp of advanced transceivers that leverage silicon photonics and groundbreaking DSP technology. The position also involves resolving technical challenges encountered during prototyping, product qualification, and high-volume manufacturing while driving solutions that deliver exceptional performance, reliability, cost efficiency, scalability, and manufacturability.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical ownership of optical transceiver assembly process development, with a focus on silicon photonics packaging using advanced manufacturing technologies.
• Develop high-volume, highly automated, and cost-effective manufacturing processes that meet performance, scalability, reliability, and cost objectives.
• Drive the development and optimization of 2D/2.5D/3D wafer-level packaging processes, including flip-chip wafer-level bonding, Cu pillar (CuP), C3/C4 bumping, and Through-Silicon Via (TSV) integration.
• Design and implement Design of Experiments (DOE) to optimize process capability, throughput, yield, and operating windows, while leading technology transfer to manufacturing and contract manufacturers through comprehensive documentation and operational handoff.
• Serve as the in-house technical expert for wafer-level packaging and mechanical assembly automation equipment, including software integration and electronic hardware interfaces.
• Partner cross-functionally with design, test, reliability, and manufacturing teams to improve product manufacturability, testability, quality, and production readiness.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field with 12+ years of experience, or Masters + 8 years of related experience, or PhD + 5 years of related experience.
• 8+ years of experience in back-end wafer processing, with expertise in materials characterization, failure analysis, IC packaging materials, and semiconductor packaging manufacturing processes.
• Experience managing overseas contract manufacturers, leading cross-functional teams to resolve manufacturing issues, and delivering consistent results in high-volume production environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of silicon photonics (SiPh/PIC) packaging, including mechanical, thermal, optical, and RF design considerations.
• Experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of silicon photonics optoelectronic multi-chip module (OE-MCM) packaging.
• Expertise in transceiver optical assembly processes, including free-space optics and fiber-optic assembly techniques, with a focus on scalable manufacturing solutions.
• Experience in leading cross-functional, multidisciplinary teams in fast-paced, collaborative development environments.
• Familiarity with the operating principles of photonic devices used in coherent optical communication systems is an advantage.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate across technical and business teams.

Benefits

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• A 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution.
• Paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees.
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness.
• Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees.
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on vacation time (subject to availability and business limitations).
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward.
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.
• Employees may be eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.
• Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, split between quota and non-quota components.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $191,400.00 to $281,400.00 for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Full salary ranges for specific locations:

• New York City Metro Area: $191,400.00 - $323,600.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $176,100.00 - $287,900.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.