Hardware Engineering Technical Leader - Acacia (hybrid)

About the role

The application window is expected to close on: 11/30/2026

This position is required to be onsite in Maynard, MA and in office three days a week.

Meet the Team

Acacia, now a part of Cisco, is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-speed coherent optical interconnect products. We are the architects behind the technology that transforms how data centers, cloud providers, and service providers connect. By pioneering breakthroughs in Silicon Photonics and Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Acacia is shrinking complex, power-hungry optical systems into high-performance, pluggable modules that scale the internet for the future.

As part of the Acacia team at Cisco, you will work on the cutting edge of 400G, 800G, and 1.6T technologies. We are a group of innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most difficult bandwidth and power-efficiency challenges. If you are passionate about pushing the boundaries of physics and engineering to build a faster, more connected world, Acacia is where you belong.

Your Impact

• You will be key member of Acacia’s Hardware team and contribute to the hardware life cycle of our products. You will work within a multi-disciplinary hardware, Software, Optics, and DSP engineering organization.
• The ideal candidate has strong relevant and recent technical and hands-on background and be able is hit the ground running as an individual contributor

• You will contribute, architecture, specification, design, and validation of new hardware
• You will utilize your strong depth and breadth of expertise in telecommunications and high-speed electro-optical transmission systems to resolve complex problems during the NPI phase of our products.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 10+ years of relevant experience or Master's degree with 7+ years of relevant experience or PhD with 3+ years, preferably combined with a degree in Electrical Engineering or a physical science or related.
• Demonstrated experience with transmission line theory and effects (micro strip, strip line, CPW, etc.)
• Demonstrated experience with high-efficiency DC-DC power converters
• Demonstrated experience with analog/RF simulation tools (e.g. LTSpice®, ADS®)
• Demonstrated experience with VxDesigner® & working knowledge of Allegro® PCB and SiP Layout tools
• Demonstrated experience with working with PCB layout and constraint management tools to guide layout for high speed signaling (above 50+ GHz)
• Demonstrated experience with debugging and lab skills including working with state-of-the-art test equipment

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters degree
• Experience with Power Integrity (PI) simulations and tools
• Knowledge of optical components (lasers, modulators, detectors, DWDM technologies, etc.)
• Understanding and implementing digital control loops and DSP functions
• Working knowledge of Python

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.

Pay and benefits

The starting salary range posted for this position is $151,300.00 to $216,200.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies: - 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees - 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations) - 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota; - 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%; - 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $151,300.00 - $250,900.00

• For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.
• Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.