Senior Hardware Engineer

About Luna Innovations & The Optics/Polarization Product Line

At Luna Innovations, we measure and manage light in optical fiber. Our Optics/Polarization product line, based out of Chino, CA, specializes in industry-leading components, modules, and test equipment for the characterization and control of optical polarization. Our instruments—ranging from dynamic optical delay/phase management, high-speed polarization state management, full function polarization light analyzer—are critical for optical communications, silicon photonics testing, and fiber optic sensing.

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Hardware Engineer with 5 years of experience to join the electrical and hardware design team for our photonics instrumentation. In this role, you will be responsible for designing the complex analog and digital circuitry that drives precision optical components and processes high-speed analog/digital signals.

You will work at the critical intersection of electronics and optics, designing the boards that power piezo/magneto/motors for precision devices, amplify pA level current signals from fast photodetectors, and design high precision/speed ADC/DAC/DSP/FPGA digital process system.

Key Responsibilities

• Mixed-Signal Circuit Design: Architect, simulate, and design both analog and digital circuits, including low-noise Transimpedance Amplifiers (TIAs) for optical receivers, high-voltage/high-current drivers for piezoelectric actuators, and high-speed ADCs/DACs.
• PCB Layout & Prototyping: Work on schematic design and PCB layout tool, focusing on signal integrity, noise reduction, and thermal management in tightly packed instrument chassis.
• Optoelectronic Integration: Work closely with optical engineers to interface electronics with optical components such as laser diodes, optical modulators, photo detectors, and polarization controllers.
• Component Selection & Evaluation: Identify and source microcontrollers, FPGAs, power supplies, and precision analog components that meet strict performance, cost, and supply chain requirements.
• Prototyping & Validation: Bring up new boards in the lab. Perform rigorous testing for signal integrity, timing margins, and EMC/EMI compliance to ensure robust performance in industrial and laboratory environments.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with the Software/Firmware team to define hardware-software interfaces, ensuring seamless control and data acquisition logic.
  
  

Required Skills & Experience

Designing hardware for optical polarization instruments requires a meticulous approach to minimizing noise while maximizing speed. To excel in this role, you will need:

• Experience: 5 years of professional experience in electrical/hardware engineering, specifically with mixed-signal board-level design for scientific instruments, test equipment, or optoelectronics.
• Analog Design Mastery: Deep understanding of low-level analog design. You must know how to design a ultra-low noise TIA, , low-noise high speed front end for high speed ADC, high-voltage drive circuits design for physical actuators.
• Digital & Microcontroller Systems: Experience integrating MCU/ARM/DSP, FPGAs, and high-speed memory interfaces.
• Communication Interfacing: Deep understanding of communication protocols and hardware interfaces (e.g., SPI, I2C, UART, TCP/IP, USB, GPIB).
• EDA Proficiency: Advanced proficiency in schematic capture and PCB layout software (Altium Designer preferred), with a strong grasp of layout best practices for mixed-signal multi-layer boards.
• Hands-on Lab Skills: Exceptional debugging skills using oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers, and function generators. You should be as comfortable with a soldering iron as you are with a simulation tool.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in optics, photonics, or silicon photonics, with an understanding of how electrical noise impacts optical measurements
• Experience with up-to-date hybrid FPGA system (PS/PL) firmware development (Whole Tool Chain) for high-speed real-time data processing.
• Experience with Linux driver for hardware
• Familiarity with designing for manufacturability (DFM) and designing for test (DFT) to smoothly transition prototypes into volume manufacturing.
  
  

Salary & Level

• Salary will be commensurate with experience, and the level of the role may vary. We are ideally looking for a Senior Hardware Engineer.
  
  

Luna is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer – Luna provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, or service in the military or any other characteristic. Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training. Luna expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment or discrimination based on any of the characteristics mentioned above.