Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.
Role Overview
Astera Labs is seeking a Technical Lead Product Engineer to join our team in San Jose, CA. In this role, you will be 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.
As a key technical contributor, you will own the 20+ GHz RF and signal integrity aspects of product engineering — from silicon characterization and validation through production test development and customer-facing debug. You'll work across the full product lifecycle, partnering with design, applications, and operations teams to drive our connectivity products from tape-out to high-volume manufacturing. This is a high-impact role at a company experiencing explosive growth, where your work directly enables the AI infrastructure revolution.
With Astera Labs' portfolio spanning PCIe retimers, Ethernet solutions, and next-generation switching silicon operating at the bleeding edge of SerDes performance, you'll tackle some of the most demanding RF and physical layer challenges in the semiconductor industry.
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 20+ GHz High-Speed SerDes, 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
The salary range for this position is $160,000 to $200,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.
We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.
Skills Required
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in post silicon product development
- Experience in RF testing and characterization
- Knowledge of spectrum analyzers and vector network analyzers
- Experience with full product development life cycle
- Strong academic background in electrical or computer engineering
- Strong problem-solving skills for system level analysis
- Understanding of digital and analog circuit for DUT
- Hands-on experience with Advantest 93k ATE platform
- Strong data analysis skills
- Energetic work mindset during the manufacturing stage
- Experience with RF parameter measurements
- Hands-on product/package qualification
- Collaboration with silicon validation teams
- Firmware development in C/C++, scripting in Python
What We Do
Astera Labs Inc., a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, is a leader in purpose-built connectivity solutions for data-centric systems throughout the data center. Partnering with leading processor vendors, cloud service providers, seasoned investors, and world-class manufacturing companies, Astera Labs is helping customers remove performance bottlenecks in data-intensive systems that are limiting the true potential of applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company’s product portfolio includes system-aware semiconductor integrated circuits, boards, and services to enable robust CXL, PCIe, and Ethernet connectivity.
