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About Astera Labs

Astera Labs is the connectivity backbone of rack-scale AI infrastructure. Our Active Electrical Cables (AEC), Smart Cable Modules (SCM), Silicon Evaluation Platforms, and rack-scale products deliver purpose-built, high-speed connectivity for the world's most demanding AI clusters. As our product portfolio expands in complexity, performance, and volume - and as OEM customers increasingly adopt Astera Labs silicon into their own designs - we need a senior engineering leader to build and scale the hardware design engineering organization that creates industry-defining products and enables our customers' success.

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About the Role

We are hiring a Senior Director, Hardware Design Engineering to lead and scale Astera Labs' hardware design engineering organization across Active Electrical Cables (AEC), Smart Cable Modules (SCM), Silicon Evaluation Platforms (SVB/EVB), rack-scale products, and OEM/customer design enablement. This is a senior leadership role with full ownership of the hardware design function - encompassing electrical/PCB design, mechanical engineering, hardware validation, lab infrastructure, and customer hardware engineering support.

You will build and lead a world-class, multidisciplinary engineering organization that takes products from concept through design, validation, qualification, and production release - while simultaneously enabling OEM customers and design partners to successfully integrate Astera Labs silicon into their own products. Your teams will own the complete hardware realization of Astera Labs' connectivity products and serve as the technical bridge between Astera Labs' silicon capabilities and the broader ecosystem of customers building next-generation AI infrastructure.

You will be a key member of the engineering leadership team, driving technology roadmaps, making critical technical and business trade-off decisions, and partnering closely with silicon, firmware, signal integrity, NPI, manufacturing, quality, product management, sales, and customer-facing teams. You'll also be responsible for attracting, developing, and retaining top engineering talent as Astera Labs scales through hyper-growth.

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Key ResponsibilitiesEngineering Leadership & Organization Building

• Lead and scale Astera Labs' hardware design engineering organization, encompassing:

  • Electrical/PCB Hardware Design Engineering - schematic capture, high-speed PCB/flex/substrate layout, power delivery, component engineering for cable modules through rack-scale systems

  • Mechanical Engineering - connector design, housing/enclosure design, thermal management, cable strain relief, chassis/sheet metal, form factor compliance, tolerance analysis

  • Hardware Validation Engineering - product-level electrical, mechanical, environmental, and reliability qualification and validation across all product lines

  • Lab Engineering & Infrastructure - test lab buildout, capital equipment strategy, measurement capability, and lab operations

  • Customer Hardware Engineering & OEM Enablement - reference design support, design reviews, integration guidance, and hands-on technical engagement with OEM customers adopting Astera Labs silicon

• Build, mentor, and lead a team of engineering managers and senior individual contributors across all hardware design disciplines

• Define organizational structure, hiring plans, career development frameworks, and technical competency models as the team scales

• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, rigorous design practices, cross-functional collaboration, and customer-centric technical support

• Represent the hardware design engineering function in executive reviews, board updates, and strategic planning sessions

Technology Roadmap & Strategic Planning

• Define and manage the hardware technology roadmap for AEC, SCM, Silicon Evaluation Platforms, and rack-scale products - aligned with silicon roadmaps, customer requirements, market trends, and competitive dynamics

• Drive technology strategy decisions across interconnect architectures, PCB/substrate technologies, connector platforms, cable constructions, thermal solutions, chassis architectures, and form factors

• Identify and invest in next-generation hardware technologies (e.g., 224G/lane substrates, advanced thermal materials, novel connector interfaces, miniaturized form factors, liquid cooling integration) that maintain Astera Labs' competitive differentiation

• Partner with Product Management and Business Development to translate customer needs, market requirements, and standards evolution into engineering development priorities

• Align hardware design roadmap with silicon tape-out schedules, firmware development timelines, manufacturing readiness milestones, and OEM customer design-in timelines

• Incorporate customer and OEM feedback into technology roadmap decisions - ensuring reference designs, evaluation platforms, and design collateral evolve to meet ecosystem needs

Product Development & Execution

• Drive R&D and new product development for the full range of hardware products - from cable-scale modules to rack-scale systems:

  • Active Electrical Cables (AEC) - high-speed active cable products with integrated retimer silicon

  • Smart Cable Modules (SCM) - advanced cable modules with intelligent management and diagnostic capabilities

  • Silicon Evaluation Platforms (SVB/EVB) - evaluation boards and system validation platforms that enable silicon bring-up, characterization, and customer evaluation

  • Rack-Scale Products - AI chassis-class systems, switch trays, CEM cards, and associated system-level hardware

  • Reference Designs & Customer Enablement Hardware - reference schematics, layout guidelines, and demonstration platforms that accelerate OEM adoption of Astera Labs silicon

• Oversee products through the full design lifecycle - from architecture definition, schematic/layout design, mechanical design, prototype build, validation, qualification, to production release

• Ensure rigorous design review processes at each stage (architecture, schematic, layout, mechanical, pre-production) with clear entry/exit criteria and cross-functional participation

• Make critical technical trade-off decisions that balance performance, cost, manufacturability, schedule, and risk across the product portfolio

• Drive schedule discipline and engineering milestone execution - ensuring products hit market windows aligned with customer platform cycles and silicon availability

Electrical & PCB Design

• Oversee high-speed PCB, flex circuit, and substrate design across the full product portfolio:

  • AEC/SCM: Retimer integration on flex/substrate, high-speed routing, power delivery, dense component placement in constrained cable module form factors

  • Silicon Evaluation Platforms: Complex multi-layer PCBs for silicon bring-up, high-speed channel characterization, and reference design generation

  • Rack-Scale Products: Backplane/midplane design, switch tray PCBs, CEM card layouts, chassis power distribution, and high-density connector interfaces

  • Reference Designs: Production-quality schematics and layouts that serve as starting points for OEM customers integrating Astera Labs silicon

• Ensure designs meet signal integrity requirements for 112G and 224G PAM4 lanes, including impedance control, loss budgets, crosstalk isolation, and return loss compliance

• Drive component engineering decisions - selecting connectors, passives, power management ICs, and materials that meet performance, reliability, cost, and availability requirements

• Establish and enforce design rules, layout guidelines, stackup definitions, and PCB/substrate technology selection criteria across all product lines

• Partner with Signal Integrity engineering to validate designs through simulation and correlation with measured performance

Mechanical Engineering

• Direct mechanical engineering across the full product range:

  • AEC/SCM: Connector mating interfaces, housings, latching mechanisms, cable strain relief, overmold design, and thermal solutions for active cable modules

  • Silicon Evaluation Platforms: Board-level mechanical design, heatsink integration, test fixture compatibility, and debug accessibility

  • Rack-Scale Products: Chassis design, sheet metal, airflow/thermal architecture, cable management, hot-swap mechanisms, rack mounting, and system-level mechanical integration

• Ensure products meet relevant form factor standards (OSFP, QSFP-DD, OCP, Open19, or proprietary) with full compliance to mechanical interface specifications

• Drive thermal management design across all product lines - from retimer-scale thermal solutions in cable modules to chassis-level airflow and liquid cooling architectures for rack-scale systems

• Oversee tolerance analysis, FEA/CFD simulation, material selection, and mechanical reliability assessments for all product designs

• Ensure mechanical designs support manufacturing scalability - DFM, DFA, tooling feasibility, and assembly sequence optimization

Hardware Validation & Qualification

• Own the hardware validation strategy and execution for all products - including electrical performance validation, mechanical/environmental stress testing, reliability qualification, and standards compliance

• Define validation plans that provide comprehensive coverage across signal integrity performance, power delivery, thermal behavior, mechanical durability, and environmental resilience

• Establish qualification programs aligned with customer requirements, industry standards (GR-468, IEC, Telcordia, OCP specifications), and internal reliability targets

• Drive a data-driven validation culture - ensuring all design decisions are backed by measured data, all failures are root-caused, and all products ship with complete characterization

• Oversee interoperability testing with customer host platforms, switches, NICs, and system environments

• For Silicon Evaluation Platforms, ensure validation coverage enables comprehensive silicon characterization and provides customers confidence in Astera Labs' silicon performance

Lab Engineering & Infrastructure

• Define and execute the strategy for Astera Labs' hardware engineering labs - including high-speed electrical measurement, mechanical testing, environmental/reliability chambers, rack-scale system test environments, and production-representative assembly capabilities

• Drive capital equipment planning, procurement, and installation for lab infrastructure that supports 112G/224G characterization (high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, BER testers, VNAs, TDR systems) as well as system-level power, thermal, and mechanical testing

• Ensure lab environments support rapid prototyping, debug, validation, and failure analysis workflows across all product lines - from cable modules to full rack configurations

• Provide lab resources and environments for customer engagement activities - including joint debug sessions, interoperability testing, and silicon evaluation demonstrations

• Build and lead a lab engineering team responsible for equipment maintenance, calibration, measurement methodology, and lab operations

OEM Engagement & Customer Design Enablement

• OEM Collaboration on Customer Designs Using Astera Labs Silicon:

  • Lead hardware engineering engagement with OEM customers who are designing Astera Labs silicon into their own products - including hyperscale cloud providers, server OEMs, switch vendors, and cable/module manufacturers

  • Provide design review support for customer hardware designs incorporating Astera Labs retimers, re-drivers, and connectivity ASICs - reviewing schematics, layouts, power delivery, thermal solutions, and signal integrity

  • Develop and maintain comprehensive reference design packages - including reference schematics, recommended layouts, stackup guidelines, BOM recommendations, thermal design guides, and application notes

  • Create and publish hardware design guides, integration manuals, and best-practice documentation that enable OEM customers to achieve first-pass success with Astera Labs silicon

  • Establish design review frameworks and checklists that OEM customers can use for self-assessment, supplemented by Astera Labs expert review at critical milestones

• Customer Technical Support:

  • Build and lead a customer hardware engineering support function that provides responsive, expert-level technical assistance to OEM customers during their design and integration cycles

  • Support customer bring-up, debug, and troubleshooting activities - providing hands-on engineering engagement when customers encounter hardware integration challenges with Astera Labs silicon

  • Drive resolution of customer-reported hardware issues - coordinating across internal teams (silicon, firmware, SI, validation) to provide root cause analysis and corrective guidance

  • Establish escalation processes and service-level expectations for customer hardware engineering support, ensuring timely and high-quality responses

  • Travel to customer sites as needed to provide on-site design review, debug support, or integration assistance for critical programs

• Internal & External Design Collaboration:

  • Serve as the bridge between Astera Labs' internal product designs and the external ecosystem of customers building with Astera Labs silicon - ensuring learnings flow bidirectionally

  • Capture common customer design challenges, failure modes, and best practices - feeding these back into reference designs, design guides, evaluation platforms, and silicon requirements

  • Partner with Sales, FAE, and Pro...