At a Glance
- Tasks: Design high-speed electronic interfaces for cutting-edge optical interconnect technologies.
- Company: Join Plessey Photonics, a leader in next-generation photonic devices.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, supportive culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic team environment with a focus on innovation and collaboration.
- Why this job: Be at the forefront of light-based technology and make a real impact.
- Qualifications: Experience in RF engineering and electronic design is preferred.
The predicted salary is between 58100 - 75000 £ per year.
About Plessey Photonics
We’re building the hardware foundation for next-era computing. Plessey Photonics Systems is built on our existing technology capabilities at Plessey, a world-leading technology company driving the next generation of photonic devices and systems. With over seventy years of innovation, we combine research, materials science, process engineering, and manufacturing capabilities. Plessey Photonics Systems is defining next-generation optical interconnect technologies. Join us to work on breakthrough technologies shaping the future of light-based technology and computing.
Location: Based in Oxford
Our Values
- Lead: We don’t follow industry trends; we create them, pushing boundaries and setting standards others aspire to. Every team member has the power to make decisions, drive change, and deliver excellence. We support each other, challenge one another for the best solutions, and lead by example.
- Grow: We expand our capabilities every day — deepening our expertise, improving how we work, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Curiosity fuels us: we question assumptions, explore new ideas, and innovate with light-based technologies.
- Trust: We operate like a family—honest, reliable, and supportive. We have each other’s backs, own our actions, and uphold the highest standards of integrity and safety.
About the Role
We are looking for a Senior RF Engineer to own the high-speed electronic interfaces in our optical interconnect development — the analogue signal path between our drive electronics and the optical source, and the receive chain from photodetector to TIA. This is a central role in the programme. Achieving high data rates depends on the quality of the RF path to and from the optical path.
Key Responsibilities
- Design the analogue high-speed signal path from the drive electronics to the optical source, including driver circuitry, biasing, high-speed serial interfacing, and impedance matching.
- Evaluate, select, and qualify high-speed driver components against the relevant interface, bandwidth, and drive requirements.
- Design controlled-impedance, differential RF/microwave PCBs, managing trace geometry, return paths, via structures, and launch design.
- Own signal integrity across the full electrical path, minimising packaging and interconnect parasitics that limit achievable data rate.
- Design and characterise the optical receive chain, including photodetector and TIA, with layout optimised for low noise and sensitivity.
- Apply and tune transmit and receive equalisation to extend usable bandwidth.
- Carry out S-parameter measurement, eye-diagram and jitter analysis, and high-speed probing to separate intrinsic device performance from packaging effects.
- Build and maintain RF link budgets, and translate findings into structured feedback for the device and photonics teams.
- Document results and contribute to the characterisation data that drives design iteration.
Contact Details:
Plessey Semiconductors Ltd Recruitment Team
