Technical Lead Product Engineer, RF

Role Overview

Astera Labs is seeking a Technical Lead Product Engineer to join our team in San Jose, CA. This role is at the intersection of silicon development and production excellence, ensuring our industry-leading connectivity solutions meet the highest standards of performance, reliability, and quality as they scale to volume production.

Key Responsibilities

• Silicon Characterization & Validation

• Lead RF and signal integrity characterization of high-speed SerDes across PCIe Gen 6/7, Ethernet, and UALink/UCI interfaces
• Perform bench measurements using high-speed oscilloscopes, VNAs, BERTs, and TDRs to validate silicon performance against specifications
• Analyze S-parameters, eye diagrams, jitter, and channel loss to characterize physical layer performance across PVT corners
• Drive silicon qualification and reliability testing to ensure products meet production readiness criteria

• Production Test Development

• Develop and optimize ATE test programs for RF and high-speed I/O parametric testing
• Define test coverage strategies that balance quality, cost, and throughput for volume manufacturing
• Correlate bench characterization results with ATE measurements to ensure production screening effectiveness
• Partner with OSAT and test vendors to bring up and qualify production test hardware and loadboards

• Customer Debug & Applications Support

• Provide RF and physical layer expertise to support customer platform bring-up and debug activities
• Analyze field returns and customer escalations related to signal integrity and link performance issues
• Develop reference measurement methodologies and application notes for high-speed interfaces
• Collaborate with applications engineering to resolve interoperability challenges across diverse customer platforms

• Cross-Functional Engineering Collaboration

• Partner with silicon design teams to provide characterization feedback that informs next-generation product improvements
• Drive DFT and design-for-manufacturing improvements based on production test learnings
• Contribute to product specifications and datasheet development with measured silicon performance data

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, RF Engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in product engineering, RF characterization, or signal integrity for high-speed semiconductor products
• Hands-on experience with RF/SI lab equipment including high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, vector network analyzers, BERTs, and TDRs
• Strong understanding of high-speed SerDes physical layer concepts including equalization, jitter analysis, S-parameters, and channel modeling
• Experience with ATE test development and production test methodologies for high-speed I/O
• Proficiency in data analysis and scripting (Python, MATLAB, or similar)

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering with emphasis on RF, microwave, or signal integrity
• Experience with PCIe, Ethernet, or CXL/UALink interface specifications and compliance testing
• Familiarity with high-speed connector/channel design and PCB stackup optimization
• Experience with statistical analysis techniques (Cpk, GRR, outlier screening) for production test
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present complex RF concepts to cross-functional audiences and customers
• Prior experience at a fabless semiconductor company operating in high-growth environments