Staff/Principal Electrical Engineer

About the role

Job Summary: Xscape Photonics is seeking a Staff/Principal Electrical Engineer to own the electrical architecture of our optical transceiver modules, spanning low-noise analog/control-loop design and high-speed digital/PCB design. You will direct a dedicated PCB layout engineer from component placement through manufacturing data, and serve as a deep technical contributor on mixed-signal, power, and high-speed design decisions. You will work cross-functionally with photonics, firmware, test, NPI, and supply chain teams to bring next-generation transceiver hardware from architecture to production.

Job Location: Bay Area (on-site required)

Responsibilities

• Circuit Schematic & Electrical Architecture: Own end-to-end electrical architecture for control and validation boards supporting photonic integrated circuits and transceiver modules. Develop detailed circuit schematics, providing input and informal review on the work of other EE team members as needed. Collaborate with system architects, photonics engineers, and firmware engineers to align electrical design with overall system goals. Utilize industry-standard schematic capture tools (OrCAD, PADS, Altium Designer).
• Mixed-Signal & Power Design: Architect low-noise analog circuits, including noise budgeting and grounding/shielding strategy for sensitive photonic control loops. Design and optimize power delivery for high-current, high-thermal-load conditions, including power distribution network (PDN) design and power efficiency optimization. Apply extensive experience in power supply topologies (buck, boost, LDO) and EMI filtering. Integrate MCU, SoC, ASIC, and FPGA components into board-level designs. Use SPICE simulation to validate analog and power circuit performance ahead of layout.
• High-Speed Digital Design: Design high-speed digital circuits and interfaces, applying sound impedance-controlled routing and high-speed serial interface practices. Guide PCB layout for signal integrity, power distribution, and thermal management on complex, high-density boards.
• Component Selection & Vendor Engagement: Select and evaluate components for performance, reliability, availability, and cost-effectiveness. Develop second-source strategies and manage long-lead/EOL component risk. Evaluate cost tradeoffs in component and design choices. Work directly with vendors to test and qualify new components using evaluation kits.
• PCB Layout Direction: Work closely with the PCB layout engineer across the full layout cycle — from component placement through manufacturing data release, including DFM. Guide the layout engineer to meet electrical, thermal, and mechanical requirements: floor plan, routing optimization, layer usage, cost reduction, and thermal improvement. Drive design-for-excellence practices across DFM, DFT (design for test), DFA (design for assembly), and DFR (design for reliability). Hands-on PCB layout experience is a plus but not required.
• Product Lifecycle & Test Collaboration: Own electrical design through the full product lifecycle, from proof-of-concept and prototype builds through Design Validation (DV) and Production Validation (PV). Work closely with Test Engineers to guide test procedure development across EVT, DV, and PV stages, including test item definition and pass/fail criteria. Support NPI and