Principal Optical Module Application Engineer

Credo•San Jose, CA

2d•$180,000 - $250,000

About The Position

We are seeking Principal Optical Module Application Engineers to drive customer‑facing technical engagement for Credo’s Zero‑Flap optical module products. This role acts as the technical bridge between Credo and key customers, enabling successful deployment, troubleshooting, and performance optimization of Credo optical modules in complex system environments. The engineers deeply understand customer hardware, firmware, and software use cases, build automation and evaluation infrastructure modeled after real‑world customer systems, and lead cross‑functional collaboration to deliver high‑quality solutions that ensure seamless customer adoption of Zero‑Flap optical module products.

Requirements

B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Communication, Optics or Physics, plus 12+ years of relevant work experience
Strong understanding of optical pluggable modules and standards (IEEE, CMIS, QSFP‑DD, OSFP).
Hands‑on experience with optical, electrical test equipment (e.g., DCA, BERT, scopes, host system) and switches and NICs.
Deep knowledge of optical modules and how they interact with the customers’ hardware and software environments.
Ability to diagnose issues across firmware, optical, mechanical, and system domains.
Test automation using scripting languages such as Python.
Proven ability to drive data‑based root‑cause investigations and to design experiments upfront that produce clear, defensible engineering conclusions and actionable next steps.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to interface directly with customers and internal engineering teams.
Fluency in written and spoken English.

Nice To Haves

MS or PhD. in Electrical Engineering, Communication, Optics or Physics, plus 10+ years of relevant work experience.
Experience with large‑scale data analysis and reporting for customer deliverables.
Experience building customer‑representative testbeds, including host systems, traffic generators, and automation frameworks.
Strong system‑level perspective — ability to correlate module behavior with host design choices.
Experience supporting top‑tier hyperscale and datacenter customers.
Understanding of customers’ optical module qualification and deployment procedures.

Responsibilities

Support customer‑site troubleshooting, including electrical, optical, firmware, and interoperability‑related issues.
Learn and analyze customer use cases, including system hardware architecture, firmware behavior, operating conditions, and software drivers where Credo modules are deployed.
Build automation infrastructure and test environments that accurately represent customer system environments for validation and problem reproduction.
Develop test scripts and automated evaluation flows to measure module performance under customer‑equivalent conditions.
Collaborate closely with internal optical, mechanical, firmware, hardware, and validation teams to root‑cause issues and drive resolution.
Collect, consolidate, and interpret engineering data across multiple domains (optical parameters, host signals, firmware logs, system telemetry, etc.), and identify areas for further improvement.
Prepare customer‑facing technical reports, including performance summaries, failure analyses, and recommended actions.
Lead on‑site technical engagements with customers, driving alignment on test plans, performance expectations, and deployment conditions.
Provide insights back into the product development teams to improve module robustness, firmware behavior, and system compatibility.