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.

Your Impact

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 cutting-edge 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. Additional responsibilities include:

• Led technical ownership of optical transceiver assembly process development, with a focus on silicon photonics packaging using advanced manufacturing technologies.
• Developed high-volume, highly automated, and cost-effective manufacturing processes that met performance, scalability, reliability, and cost objectives.
• Drove 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.
• Designed and executed 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.
• Served as the in-house technical expert for wafer-level packaging and mechanical assembly automation equipment, including software integration and electronic hardware interfaces.
• Partnered cross-functionally with design, test, reliability, and manufacturing teams to improve product manufacturability, testability, quality, and production readiness.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field with 15+ years of relevant experience; Master's degree with 10+ years of relevant experience; or Ph.D. with 8+ years of relevant experience.
• 10+ years of experience in back-end wafer processing, with expertise in materials characterization, failure analysis, IC packaging materials, and semiconductor packaging manufacturing processes.
• Proven experience managing overseas contract manufacturers, leading cross-functional teams to resolve manufacturing issues, and delivering consistent results in high-volume production environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong working knowledge of silicon photonics (SiPh/PIC) packaging, including mechanical, thermal, optical, and RF design considerations.
• Proven experience in the design, development, and manufacturing of silicon photonics optoelectronic multi-chip module (OE-MCM) packaging.
• Demonstrated expertise in transceiver optical assembly processes, including free-space optics and fiber-optic assembly techniques, with a focus on scalable manufacturing solutions.
• Successful track record of 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.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.