Website:
spacerelays.com
Job details:
Electronics & PCB Design Engineer
Location: Bengaluru, India
About SpaceRelays
SpaceRelays is building the next generation of integrated optical communication terminals for space. Our technology combines silicon photonics, high-speed electronics, advanced beam steering, and precision optoelectronic packaging to enable compact, high-data-rate laser communication systems for satellites.
We are looking for an experienced Electronics & PCB Design Engineer who will take ownership of the electronic hardware required to interface with, control, characterize, and test these photonic chips—from schematic and PCB architecture through fabrication, assembly, bring-up, and laboratory validation.
What You'll Do
You will work closely with our photonics, embedded systems, packaging, and communication teams to develop the electronics surrounding PICs.
Your responsibilities will include
- Architect, design, and develop high-speed mixed-signal PCBs for photonic integrated circuits and optoelectronic systems.
- Design electronic interfaces for electro-optic modulators, photodiodes, TIAs, laser drivers, phase shifters, DACs, ADCs, FPGA/MCU systems, temperature controllers, and monitoring circuits.
- Develop PCB platforms including high-speed electrical interfaces for modulators, photodetectors, drivers, TIAs, clocking, control, and power distribution.
- Develop control and driver electronics, including multi-channel DAC architectures, phase-shifter control, biasing, monitoring, and FPGA/MCU interfaces.
- Design RF and high-speed digital interconnects, including controlled-impedance transmission lines, GSG interfaces, differential pairs, clock distribution, and high-speed board-to-board interfaces.
- Perform signal-integrity analysis covering impedance matching, reflections, insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk, termination, and transmission-line effects.
- Design robust power-distribution networks (PDNs) involving multiple voltage rails, low-noise analog supplies, high-current supplies, filtering, sequencing, grounding, and decoupling.
- Develop low-noise analog circuits for photonic-device biasing, sensing, monitoring, and control.
- Work with FPGA/embedded engineers to define interfaces for DACs, ADCs, SPI, I²C, UART, Ethernet, JESD or other high-speed communication interfaces, as applicable.
- Design PCB interfaces compatible with wire-bonded, flip-chip, interposer-based, and packaged PIC assemblies.
- Coordinate PCB stack-up, impedance requirements, material selection, fabrication tolerances, and design rules with PCB manufacturers.
- Own schematic capture, component selection, PCB layout, design reviews, Gerber/ODB++ generation, BOM preparation, and fabrication documentation.
- Coordinate PCB fabrication, component procurement, assembly, and vendor interactions.
- Perform board bring-up, debugging, characterization, and validation using oscilloscopes, VNAs, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, power supplies, electronic loads, and related laboratory equipment.
- Develop test fixtures, evaluation boards, breakout boards, and automated characterization setups for PIC testing.
- Debug hardware issues spanning PCB, PIC, package, power, RF, signal integrity, firmware, and instrumentation interfaces.
- Maintain complete hardware documentation, including schematics, layout files, BOMs, test procedures, characterization results, revision histories, and engineering change records.
- Support the transition of engineering prototypes toward flight-relevant and space-qualified electronic hardware.
What We're Looking For
We are looking for someone who enjoys owning hardware end-to-end—not just designing a schematic, but seeing the board through fabrication, assembly, bring-up, debugging, and successful operation with the photonic chip.
You should have strong hands-on experience in several of the following areas:
- Multilayer PCB schematic and layout design
- High-speed digital and mixed-signal electronics
- RF PCB design and controlled-impedance routing
- Signal integrity and power integrity
- FPGA/MCU peripheral hardware
- High-speed DAC and ADC interfaces
- Analog front-end and low-noise circuit design
- Power supply, LDO, DC-DC converter, filtering, and sequencing design
- Photodiode/TIA interfaces
- Laser and electro-optic modulator driver electronics
- Precision current/voltage driver circuits
- High-density connectors and board-to-board interfaces
- Thermal management and temperature sensing/control
- PCB fabrication and assembly processes
- Hardware bring-up, debugging, and characterization
Experience with tools such as Altium Designer, Cadence Allegro/OrCAD, KiCad, Ansys SIwave/HFSS, Keysight ADS, LTspice, MATLAB, or equivalent platforms is valuable.
Preferred Experience
Experience in one or more of the following would be particularly valuable:
- Silicon photonics or photonic integrated circuits
- Optical transceivers or coherent optical communication systems
- High-speed electro-optic modulators
- Photodiode and TIA electronics
- RF/microwave electronics
- FPGA-based control and data-acquisition systems
- Multi-channel DAC/ADC architectures
- High-speed communication hardware
- Optoelectronic packaging
- Wire bonding or flip-chip electronic interfaces
- Space electronics or aerospace hardware
- Radiation-tolerant/radiation-hardened component selection
- EMI/EMC design and testing
- Environmental qualification, including thermal-vacuum and vibration testing
Prior photonics experience is desirable but not mandatory. Strong candidates from RF, semiconductor test, high-speed electronics, aerospace electronics, instrumentation, or communication-hardware backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Minimum Qualifications
Candidates should meet one of the following experience pathways:
- B.Tech./B.E. in Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Instrumentation, or a related discipline + approximately 5 years of relevant industry experience
- M.Tech./M.E./M.S. + approximately 3 years of relevant experience
- Ph.D. or Postdoctoral experience in a relevant area involving electronic hardware, RF/mixed-signal systems, semiconductor instrumentation, photonics, communication systems, or related technologies
- Candidates with a different academic background but substantial, demonstrable hands-on experience in relevant electronic hardware development will also be considered.
For us, demonstrated engineering capability matters more than fitting a rigid academic profile.
What Matters to Us
We are looking for engineers who can move comfortably between design equations, PCB CAD, a soldering station, an oscilloscope, and the actual system.
You should be comfortable taking ownership of a problem such as:
Requirements → Architecture → Schematic → Layout → Fabrication → Assembly → Bring-up → Debugging → Characterization → Iteration
You will be working on hardware where electronics, photonics, packaging, thermal engineering, embedded control, and communication systems meet. Curiosity across these boundaries and the ability to debug complex multidisciplinary systems will be important.
Why SpaceRelays?
At SpaceRelays, you won't be designing another generic evaluation board. You will help build the electronic nervous system around custom photonic chips designed for next-generation satellite laser communication.
You will work directly with the team developing the PICs and participate in the complete hardware development cycle—from the first packaged chips arriving from fabrication to demonstrating optical communication and beam-steering systems in the laboratory and, ultimately, preparing the technology for space deployment.
If you enjoy building sophisticated hardware from the ground up and want your boards to control actual photonic chips rather than disappear into another product revision, we'd like to hear from you.
Click on Apply to know more.
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