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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Systems Engineer - **Company:** Neurophos Inc. - **Location:** Austin, TX, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Computing Platforms, Systems Engineering, JIRA, Network Interface Controllers, Python (Programming Language), MATLAB, Cadence Virtuoso, Requirements Management, Git, Hardware Acceleration - **Published:** September 19, 2026 - **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/staff-systems-engineer-architecture-requirements-neurophos-10127296 ## About the Role * MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a closely related field, with emphasis on systems engineering or mixed-signal/optical system architecture. * 5+ years in systems engineering, requirements management, or architecture definition for complex electro-optic, mixed-signal, or communications hardware. * Demonstrated ability to build and maintain leveled requirements sets, interface control documents, and verification/traceability matrices, and to flow top-level requirements down into defensible subsystem allocations. * Proven ability to quantify architectural trade-offs (performance, power, complexity, cost) and to make and defend architecture decisions across disciplines. * Working fluency with signal-path and link-budget models (Python or MATLAB) sufficient to evaluate the impact of a trade study, even where day-to-day modeling is owned by others. * Excellent written and verbal communication, with the credibility to negotiate and align priorities across Responsible Engineers, functional leads, and executive stakeholders. Preferred Skills * Experience with requirements-management tooling (DOORS, Jira, or similar) and version-controlled, machine-readable specification repositories (e.g., Git-based documentation). * Familiarity with optical or RF communication systems and high-speed mixed-signal architecture. * Experience defining product configuration and variant management for complex hardware systems. * Exposure to formal gate-review processes (PDR/CDR-style) across internal teams and external design partners. * Familiarity with Cadence Virtuoso and Spectre sufficient to review analog implementation against requirements. ## Description We are seeking a highly skilled Systems Engineer to own the architecture and requirements focus area for our optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) engine. This role is responsible for defining the OVMM signal-path architecture, decomposing product-level requirements into subsystem and interface specifications, and keeping that set of requirements coherent, leveled, and traceable as the product evolves. You will be the person who turns a product-level ask into a specification that an analog, digital, photonic, or software team can actually design against and who catches interface conflicts before they become integration surprises. If you combine systems-architecture judgment with the discipline to build and defend a structured set of requirements, and you thrive on translating between product intent and subsystem implementation, this role will let you shape how a first-of-its-kind computing platform is specified and integrated., * Own and maintain the OVMM signal-path architecture, ensuring it remains internally consistent as subsystem designs and product requirements evolve. * Translate product- and system-level requirements into subsystem and work-package-level specifications. Maintain a structured, leveled set of requirements with clear ownership and priorities assigned at each level. * Define and maintain interface specifications between subsystems and disciplines (optics, analog, digital, software). Identify interface conflicts as designs evolve and drive them to resolution. * Lead architecture trade studies, channel count, TX/RX configuration, aspect ratio, and similar structural choices, quantifying the resulting impact on performance, power, and complexity. * Define and manage configuration and variant trades across product options, maintaining traceability between requirements and the configurations that satisfy them. * Lead requirements reviews across functional teams, negotiate scope with Responsible Engineers, and resolve requirement conflicts before they propagate downstream. Secondary Responsibilities * Partner with the Signal-Path Performance & Modeling focus area to validate architecture and configuration choices against the quantitative system model. * Partner with the Calibration, Bring-Up & Verification focus area to ensure requirements and interfaces are verifiable and do not impede bring-up or calibration. * Maintain requirements-management tooling and documentation (e.g., ticketing systems, version-controlled specification repositories) to keep the requirements set traceable and reviewable. * Mentor engineers in specification discipline, requirements decomposition, and architecture trade-study methodology. ## Related Videos - [Strange New Worlds: shaping the future of the digital age](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/677-strange-new-worlds-shaping-the-future-of-the-digital-age) - [Leveraging Large Language Models for Legacy Code Translation: Challenges and Solutions](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1157-leveraging-large-language-models-for-legacy-code-translation-challenges-and-solutions) - [Improving quality with Agentic AI with Rovo Dev and Xray](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2005-improving-quality-with-agentic-ai-with-rovo-dev-and-xray) - [How a Small Team Shrank a Microsoft Monorepo by 94%](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1236-how-a-small-team-shrank-a-microsoft-monorepo-by-94) - [Building a hypercar from scratch](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/607-building-a-hypercar-from-scratch) - [Collaboration Quantified: Lessons from Open Source Developer Networks](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1422-collaboration-quantified-lessons-from-open-source-developer-networks) ## Related Articles - [How We Built a Worry-Free System That Runs for 10+ Years – And What We’d Do Again](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/751-how-we-built-a-worry-free-system-that-runs-for-10-years-and-what-we-d-do-again) - [What is Software Engineering?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/289-what-is-software-engineering) - [Top Characteristics of a Software Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/166-top-characteristics-of-a-software-engineer) - [Software Engineer Career: Things You Should Know](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/143-software-engineer-career-things-you-should-know) - [Is Software Engineering Hard?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/448-is-software-engineering-hard) - [From developer to manager – what does it take to become an engineering manager?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/42-from-developer-to-manager-what-does-it-take-to-become-an-engineering-manager)