Upscale AI Senior Principal Engineer to lead design and development of advanced SerDes transmitter circuits for next-generation high-speed interconnects. Focus on clock generation, high-speed DACs, output drivers, and power efficiency.
Responsibilities
We are building a world-class SerDes engineering team to enable next-generation connectivity for AI data centers and high-performance computing.
We are seeking a highly accomplished Senior Principal Engineer to lead the design and development of advanced SerDes transmitter circuits. This role will drive key transmitter technologies spanning clock generation and distribution, high-speed DACs, output drivers, and innovative circuit techniques for extending bandwidth and improving power efficiency.
The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in high-speed analog and mixed-signal circuit design with hands-on experience in advanced transmitter architectures, time-interleaved DACs, high-speed clocking, and electromagnetic analysis. You will own critical design blocks from architecture and circuit development through layout collaboration, tape-out, and silicon validation, working closely with cross-functional teams to deliver leading-edge high-speed interconnect technology.
Transmitter Design Leadership: Lead the architecture, design, and implementation of high-speed SerDes transmitter circuits targeting the next-generation high-speed interconnects, with a focus on performance, power efficiency, and silicon robustness.
Clocking Architecture: Drive transmitter clock generation, distribution, and timing optimization, including multiphase clocking, phase alignment, jitter management, and clock-to-data timing.
High-Speed DAC Development: Lead the design and optimization of high-speed DACs, including time-interleaved architectures, high-speed switching networks, linearity optimization, and power-efficient implementations.
DAC Calibration: Develop and optimize calibration techniques for high-speed time-interleaved DACs, addressing timing skew, gain and offset mismatch, nonlinearities, interleaving spurs, and process-voltage-temperature variations.
Output Driver Design: Lead the design of high-speed output drivers using both current-mode and voltage-mode architectures, optimizing output swing, impedance matching, linearity, power consumption, and signal integrity.
Bandwidth Extension Techniques: Develop advanced circuit techniques using passive elements and networks—including inductive peaking, impedance shaping, and other bandwidth-extension methods—to achieve the required high-frequency performance.
Electromagnetic Analysis: Apply electromagnetic simulation and extraction tools, such as Cadence EMX, Ansys HFSS, or other EM tools, to analyze and optimize passive structures, interconnects, coupling, and high-frequency circuit behavior.
Cross-Functional Integration: Collaborate with receiver, clocking, AMS layout, package, signal integrity, and silicon validation teams to optimize end-to-end link performance.
Demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas: transmitter clocking, high-speed DACs, output drivers, or advanced transmitter architectures.
Strong understanding of high-speed circuit design principles, including bandwidth limitations, parasitic effects, jitter, noise, impedance matching, signal integrity, and power optimization.
Experience with advanced CMOS process technologies and the challenges of implementing high-speed circuits in scaled technology nodes.
Proficiency in circuit simulation, design optimization, and silicon debug and characterization.
Experience collaborating with custom layout engineers and using extracted parasitics and electromagnetic simulation results to guide circuit design.
Proven ability to lead complex technical projects, make sound engineering trade-offs, and deliver high-quality silicon.
Preferred
Direct experience developing 100+G-per-lane SerDes transmitters.
Deep expertise in time-interleaved DAC architectures and calibration techniques for high-speed transmitters.
Experience with both current-mode and voltage-mode output driver architectures, including their trade-offs in bandwidth, linearity, output swing, power, and termination.
Strong understanding of passive circuit design for bandwidth extension, including inductors, transformers, transmission lines, resonant networks, and impedance-shaping techniques.
Hands-on proficiency with electromagnetic simulation and extraction tools such as Cadence EMX, Ansys HFSS, or other EM tools, including PeakView where applicable.
Experience optimizing clock distribution, multiphase clock generation, and sampling or switching-clock quality for high-speed mixed-signal systems.
Experience with advanced-node CMOS technologies, high-density integration, and demanding package and channel environments.
A track record of successful silicon delivery, technical innovation, patents, or contributions to leading-edge high-speed connectivity products.