Optical Network Engineer
MatX · Mountain View, CA
$250,000–$475,000from the description
Jul 14, 2026
Mountain View, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior optical interconnect engineering role covering the full lifecycle of high-speed optical connectivity for AI networking infrastructure — from component characterization and link budget analysis through data center deployment. The work spans pluggable, near-package, and co-packaged optical approaches at 800G and 1.6T speeds, and involves defining interconnect strategy for large-scale AI cluster topologies while managing vendor qualification and supply chain relationships. Suited to engineers with deep hands-on experience in data center or AI fabric optical systems.
Senior level · 7+ years · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $188,486 (middle half $139,113–$224,920). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
This role is highly specialized in optical/photonic hardware engineering — it does not map cleanly to any standard SOC code. 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other) is used as the best available fit; 15-1244 is noted as a runner-up given the network infrastructure and data center deployment focus, though neither code fully captures the photonics/hardware characterization nature of the work.
The posting lists three compensation tiers (Early, Mid, Senior Career). The Senior Career band ($250,000–$475,000) is reported here as it aligns with the stated senior-level framing of the role. The full range across all tiers is $120,000–$475,000.
The 7–12+ year experience requirement is stated as a range; 7 years is used as the minimum per instructions.
Degree requirement is listed as BS/MS/PhD — because multiple levels are accepted and no single minimum is hard-gated, this is treated as no hard degree floor.
The role is hybrid (remote Mon/Fri, in-office Tue–Thu in Mountain View, CA); it is not fully remote.
MATLAB, Python, and GNPY are listed together as link budget modeling tools in the requirements section. MATLAB is emitted as the primary skill with Python and GNPY as alternatives; Python is also separately listed as preferred given its broader standalone use in the posting context.
Bonus Points items (AI accelerator/GPU validation, JEDEC/PCIe compliance, SPC/data analysis) are treated as preferred.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): optical interconnect engineering, link budget analysis.
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.