Senior Analog & Mixed-Signal Engineer (Precision Timing)
About The Position
Mesa Quantum is seeking a Senior Analog & Mixed-Signal Engineer to lead the development of precision control electronics for their chip-scale atomic clock platform. This role involves owning the analog front-end, signal conditioning, and control loop architecture, transitioning the technology from validation to a fielded product. The position requires close collaboration with AMO physics, photonics, RF, and systems teams. This is a hands-on role where the engineer will execute analog circuit design, schematic capture, simulation, and bench testing. The ideal candidate is passionate about circuit design, takes pride in elegant analog topologies, and prefers hands-on work over presentations. Responsibilities span precision analog, mixed-signal PCB design, and RF synthesis, with frequent interaction with embedded and digital teams. The role reports to the CTO and is a full-time, on-site position in Boulder, CO.
Requirements
- 10+ years of analog and mixed-signal hardware design experience, with at least one product successfully taken from prototype through volume production.
- Deep expertise in low-noise precision analog design, including signal conditioning, low-noise amplifiers, ADC/DAC interfacing, and rigorous noise budgeting.
- Proficiency in mixed-signal PCB design, including multi-layer stack-ups with sensitive analog, RF, and digital domains, controlled impedance, thermal management, and debug under signal integrity constraints.
- Experience in RF circuit design up to GHz frequencies, with hands-on experience in low phase noise frequency synthesis, PLLs, and VCOs.
- Strong SPICE simulation and circuit analysis skills, including noise, stability, and tolerance analysis.
- Hands-on proficiency with oscilloscopes, spectrum and phase noise analyzers, network analyzers, source measure units, and signal generators.
- Scripting experience for instrument control, characterization, and data analysis.
- Disciplined Git workflows for hardware version control.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with chip-scale atomic clocks, rubidium or cesium oscillators, OCXOs, or other precision frequency references.
- Optoelectronics experience, including VCSEL drive design, photodetector readout, and laser frequency locking.
- Embedded firmware development in C/C++ on ARM Cortex-M class microcontrollers.
- FPGA development in Verilog or SystemVerilog, including real-time DSP IP (lock-in detection, PID, digital filtering).
- Familiarity with mixed-signal ASIC design, particularly mixed-signal block specification, verification, or characterization.
- Experience designing hardware under hard size and power budgets (low SWAP-C).
- Production partnerships with contract manufacturers and PCB houses, including DFM and DFT contributions.
- Defense, aerospace, or space-qualified hardware experience.
- Familiarity with atomic physics or other quantum sensing modalities.
Responsibilities
- Own the precision analog front-end, including photodetector signal conditioning, low-noise transimpedance and instrumentation amplification, and lock-in detection for weak atomic signal recovery.
- Architect and deliver successive generations of control electronics, focusing on improvements in size, power, and noise.
- Design and validate the microwave synthesis chain for atomic interrogation, encompassing PLL and VCO architecture, phase noise optimization, and reference distribution.
- Implement precision VCSEL current drive and thermal control electronics for the laser and physics package.
- Build characterization protocols, test fixtures, and automation to validate clock performance against Allan deviation, phase noise, and holdover targets.
- Drive Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Test (DFT) with PCB houses and contract manufacturers during scaling towards high-volume production.
- Mentor junior engineers and serve as the senior technical authority in hardware design reviews.
Benefits
- Competitive base salary in the range of $150K to $230K, commensurate with experience, skills, qualifications, and education.
- Meaningful equity in a deep-tech company.
- Comprehensive benefits package.
- Direct ownership of a critical subsystem with measurable impact.
- A team with deep AMO physics, RF, photonics, and microfabrication expertise.
- Boulder location with access to Colorado's strongest tech and outdoor communities.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
