Principal Hardware Engineer

Welcome! Our Growth is Creating Great Opportunities! Our team is expanding, and we want to hire the most talented people we can.    Continued success depends on it!   Once you've had a chance to explore our current open positions, apply to the ones you feel suit you best and keep track of both your progress in the selection process, and new postings that might interest you! Thanks for your interest in working on our team! Position Summary ADTRAN is seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to provide technical leadership in the development of next-generation Optical Transport and Coherent Pluggable solutions for metro, core, long-haul, and data center interconnect applications. This role is responsible for the architecture, design, validation, and production support of advanced optical networking products, including coherent transceivers, DWDM systems, and optical transport platforms. The successful candidate will serve as a subject matter expert and collaborate across optical, electrical, firmware, FPGA, software, mechanical, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams to deliver innovative, high-performance networking solutions. Key Responsibilities Technical Leadership Lead the hardware architecture and design of coherent pluggable transceivers and optical transport subsystems. Drive technical decisions related to high-speed digital, RF, mixed-signal, and optical hardware design. Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers across multiple product development teams. Serve as the primary technical resource for complex engineering challenges and design reviews. Evaluate emerging technologies, components, and architectures to support future product roadmaps. Hardware Design & Development Develop system architectures, block diagrams, schematics, and detailed hardware specifications. Design and validate high-speed circuit boards supporting coherent optical communication systems. Lead signal integrity, power integrity, and electromagnetic compatibility analyses. Collaborate with PCB layout engineers to optimize designs for performance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost. Oversee hardware integration, verification, qualification, and release activities throughout the product lifecycle. Support new product introductions and production transfers to manufacturing partners. Optical Transport Systems Define and evaluate optical subsystem requirements including: Coherent pluggable modules DWDM transport systems Optical amplifiers ROADM technologies Wavelength-selective switches Laser and photodetector-based subsystems Perform system-level analysis, performance modeling, and design trade studies. Work with suppliers to evaluate and qualify optical components and technologies. Test & Validation Develop test strategies, qualification plans, and validation methodologies. Utilize laboratory equipment including: Network analyzers Spectrum analyzers BER testers Oscilloscopes Optical measurement equipment …