What You'll Do
The Digital Design Lead for the Client Optics Group (COG) provides essential technical leadership in the development of digital logic for silicon photonics, ensuring high-performance outcomes for 100G, 200G, and 400G optical interconnects. This role involves managing the full ASIC lifecycle, from architectural conception and RTL-based design of CPU subsystems and data path interfaces to tapeout and post-silicon production support, while overseeing the integration of digital logic with analog and mixed-signal blocks to ensure the reliability of Co-Packaged Optics and silicon photonics modules. Candidates must possess comprehensive expertise in high-speed optical interconnects and mastery of the complete ASIC/SoC design flow, including DFT, physical design, and verification. Furthermore, the position requires the ability to drive technical strategy through effective collaboration with cross-functional teams in firmware, packaging, and process engineering to optimize power, performance, and manufacturability within the United States of America office context. Your Impact As a senior level individual contributor, you will work with a diverse team of engineers spanning digital design, analog/mixed-signal design, verification, DFT, physical design, firmware, FPGA, CAD, packaging, and post-silicon validation. At the concept stage, you will help define the digital architecture, interface requirements, implementation strategy, and design methodology. During execution, you will own block level and top-level design and block level verification, and support full-chip integration of high-speed IPs such as ODSP, D2D IP, SerDes XSR, SerDes PAM4 integrated drivers/TIA, and control functions. You will work closely with verification teams to ensure complete functional closure, with physical design teams to support implementation readiness,



and with post-silicon teams to help drive successful product bring-up and release to production. Specific responsibilities include
- Contribute individually during all design activities from Pre-Silicon RTL to GDS2 signoff and post-silicon activities such as FPGA prototyping, Lab Validation and ATE bring-up.
- Design complex digital blocks and CPU subsystems. Work seamlessly across cross function teams and resolve design and technical issues.
- Must be able to understand concepts such as accuracy, resolution, loop time constants and make appropriate trade-offs.
- Propagate top level specifications to block level specifications for high speed datapath and low speed control planes, including timing, power budgets and hardware vs firmware partitioning
- Review verification coverage and sign off on coverage metrics. Independently simulate, verify and debug verification issues. Support integration and verification of Serdes and DSP IP.
- Support all backend activities such as synthesis, timing closure, DFT and low power design, scripts for design automation and processing QOR metrics.
- Contribute to FPGA prototyping and validation activities where applicable. Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related field. Master’s degree strongly preferred




- 8-12 years of industry experience with hands-on experience in digital design including FSM and CPU sub-systems, complex SOCs and FPGA validation
- Familiarity with protocols such as SPI, I2C, APB, AXI, or similar interfaces and high-speed SerDes, Ethernet, D2D PHY IP, and protocols.
- Robust knowledge of ASIC/SoC design flow, including RTL development using SystemVerilog, simulation, lint, CDC/RDC, synthesis, formal/equivalence checking, DFT, and implementation handoff
- Good understanding of full front-end design and development as well as exposure to full suite of backend tools such as CDC, synthesis, LEC, DFT etc.
- Strong teamwork, communication, and organizational skills. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills. Meet the Team Cisco’s Client Optics Group (COG) designs & delivers the high-speed optical transceivers, and platforms that power Cisco's core data center networking solutions. We specialize in the design and integration of cutting-edge IM/DD optics and silicon photonic platforms that enable customers to deploy industry-leading optical technologies within data center with unprecedented speed, capacity, and reliability. Come join us and take part in shaping COG’s ground-breaking optical solutions by designing, developing, and testing some of the most advanced pluggable, and Co-packaged Optics (CPO) being developed in the industry. You will work with Cisco's outstanding Silicon Photonics team. Our team is responsible for driving the development and optimization of optical transceivers & modules (800G,1.6T & beyond) that seamlessly integrate with Cisco's routing, switching, and datacenter platforms, enabling customers to build scalable, high-performance networks that support emerging technologies including AI/ML workloads, and next-generation data center architectures.

📌 ASIC Digital Designer (Bengaluru)
🏢 Cisco
📍 Bengaluru