Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.

Role Overview

Our analog and Ethernet connectivity products sit in the critical signal path of optical modules, copper interconnects, and high-speed networking infrastructure. Across both product lines, the firmware controlling these devices drives adaptive behaviour, calibration sequences, link management, and real-time performance, and it ends up deployed in data centers around the world. This is the kind of work where what you write actually matters.

You’ll be part of a small Ottawa-based team working directly alongside senior engineers on firmware development, hardware bring-up, test automation, and day-to-day project tracking. You won’t be handed a narrow slice of work and left alone. You’ll be involved across the board, getting exposure to how analog and Ethernet connectivity products go from silicon to production.

This is a startup, and that means things move quickly and the work doesn’t always fit neatly into a job description. If that sounds like your kind of environment, keep reading.

Level is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

Key Responsibilities

• Firmware Development

  • Write and modify embedded C firmware for analog and Ethernet connectivity devices, including register configuration, state machines, calibration sequences, and control loops

  • Work on low-level hardware bring-up and debug alongside senior firmware engineers

  • Contribute to features spanning analog control such as gain settings and equalization parameters, as well as Ethernet link management, SERDES configuration, and diagnostics

  • Help maintain and improve the firmware codebase with clean, reviewable code

• Test Automation and Validation

  • Write Python scripts to automate test flows, collect and analyze data, and help make the team faster

  • Work with validation teams remotely to develop and execute test plans across a range of operating conditions and corner cases

  • Help build out CI infrastructure and automated test tooling as the team grows

  • Contribute to characterizing firmware behaviour across analog and Ethernet configurations, link states, and failure modes

• Project and Process Contributions

  • Keep Jira tickets up to date, track your own work, and flag blockers early

  • Participate in code reviews and architecture discussions

  • Communicate clearly with teammates across firmware, silicon design, and applications

Basic Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field

• 2 to 5 years of experience writing embedded C/C++ firmware on real hardware

• Comfort working at the hardware/software boundary: reading datasheets, poking registers, interpreting hardware behaviour from software

• Familiarity with Linux development tools: gcc/clang, make, bash, gdb, and git

• Some experience with Python scripting, whether for test automation, data analysis, or general utility scripts

• Strong communication skills and a collaborative attitude; you’ll be working closely with a small team and need to keep everyone in the loop

• A genuine interest in digging into hard problems and the persistence to see them through

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Ethernet at the system or device level: Layer 1 PHY, SERDES, retimers, gearboxes, NICs, or related devices

• Exposure to analog or mixed-signal systems: ADC/DAC interfaces, calibration techniques, signal conditioning

• Understanding of signal integrity concepts: equalization, jitter, eye diagrams, or link margin

• Experience with Jira or similar tools for issue tracking and project management

• Background with RTOS, device drivers, or bare-metal firmware on microcontrollers

• Familiarity with lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, BERTs, logic analyzers or similar

• Prior internship or co-op experience in a semiconductor or networking hardware company

Base salary range is CAD 140,000 to CAD 180,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role is eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.

We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.

Australian Citizens with NV1 Clearance residing in Australia only respond.

About the role

You’d be joining the Data Infra team — a small, high-leverage team within Chime’s Infrastructure Engineering org. We build and operate the foundational platform that Data Engineering relies on to run their workflows reliably at scale: from deploying Airflow and Flink environments to owning the DynamoDB and RDS infrastructure that powers Chime’s data platform. This is a generalist role where you’ll touch both pillars — the data engineering deployment layer and the storage layer — so you’ll never be bored. If you get energy from building durable foundations that other engineers build on top of, this team is for you.

The base salary offered for this role and level of experience will begin at $133,000.00 and up to $184,000.00. Full-time employees are also eligible for a bonus, competitive equity package, and benefits. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience.

In this role, you can expect to:

•   Build and maintain deployment infrastructure for Data Engineering workflows, including Airflow, Flink, and chalk.ai environments
•   Own and operate Chime’s core storage technologies — DynamoDB and RDS — serving both data engineering and platform teams
•   Write infrastructure-as-code using Terraform and manage workloads on Kubernetes in production
•   Partner closely with Data Engineering to translate their needs into scalable, reliable infrastructure solutions
•   Drive reliability improvements across the platform — observability, capacity planning, and operational hygiene
•   Participate in the full lifecycle of infrastructure changes: design, build, test, and ship
•   Help shape how the Data Infra team scales its practices as Chime grows

To thrive in this role, you have

•   2–4 years of software engineering experience with a focus on infrastructure, platform, or backend systems
•   Hands-on production experience with Terraform and Kubernetes
•   Familiarity with AWS, particularly managed database services like DynamoDB and RDS
•   Strong programming skills in Python or a similar language
•   A systems-thinking mindset — you design for reliability, scalability, and maintainability from the start
•   The ability to work autonomously on ambiguous problems and communicate clearly across teams
•   Experience with data ingestion and ETL pipelines is a strong plus

#LI-WW1 #LI-Onsite

A little about us

At Chime, we believe that everyone can achieve financial progress. We created Chime—a financial technology company, not a bank*—on the premise that core banking services should be helpful, easy, and free. Through our user-friendly tools and intuitive platforms, we empower our members to take control of their finances and work towards their goals. Whether it’s starting a savings account, purchasing a first car or home, launching a business, or pursuing higher education, we’re proud to have helped millions unlock their financial potential.

We’re a team of problem solvers, dreamers, and builders with one shared obsession: our members. From day one, Chimers have worked tirelessly to out-hustle and out-execute competitors to bring our mission to life. Their grit and determination inspire us to work harder every day to deliver the very best experience possible. We each bring an owner’s mindset to our work, refusing to be outdone and holding ourselves accountable to meet and exceed the highest bars for our teams, our company, and our members.

We believe in being bold, dreaming big, and taking risks, while also working together, embracing our diverse perspectives, and giving each other honest feedback. Our culture remains deeply entrepreneurial, encouraging every Chimer to see themselves as stewards of our mission to help everyday Americans unlock their financial progress.

We know that to achieve our mission, we must earn and keep people’s trust—so we hold ourselves to the highest standards of integrity in everything we do. These aren’t just words on a wall—our values are embedded in every aspect of our business, serving as a north star that guides us as we work to help millions achieve their financial potential.

Because if we don’t—who will?

*Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.

What we offer for our full-time, regular employees

• 🏢 Our in-office work policy is designed to keep you connected - with four days a week in the office and Fridays from home for those near one of our offices, plus team and company-wide events depending on location. Whether you’re coming in regularly or are part of our fully remote program, you’ll stay engaged with your work and teammates.
• 💻 In-office perks including backup child, elder, and/or pet care, plus a subsidized commuter benefit to support your regular commute
• 💰 Competitive salary based on experience
• ✨ 401k match plus great medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits
• 🏝 Generous vacation policy and company-wide Chime Days, bonus company-wide paid days off
• 🫂 1% of your time off to support local community organizations of your choice
• 👟 Annual wellness stipend to use towards eligible wellness related expenses
• 👶 Up to 24 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing parents and 12 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birthing parents
• 👪 Access to Maven, a family planning tool, with $15k lifetime reimbursement for egg freezing, fertility treatments, adoption, and more.
• 🎉 In-person and virtual events to connect with your fellow Chimers—think cooking classes, guided meditations, music festivals, mixology classes, paint nights, etc., and delicious snack boxes, too!
• 💚 A challenging and fulfilling opportunity to join one of the most experienced teams in FinTech and help millions unlock financial progress

We know that great work can’t be done without a diverse team and inclusive environment. That’s why we specifically look for individuals of varying strengths, skills, backgrounds, and ideas to join our team. We believe this gives us a competitive advantage to better serve our members and helps us all grow as Chimers and individuals.

Chime is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital or family status, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis under provincial, federal, state, and local laws, regulations, or ordinances. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of state and local laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Cook County Ordinance, NYC Fair Chance Act, and the LA City Fair Chance Ordinance, and consistent with Canadian provincial and federal laws. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during any stage of the application process, please contact: benefits@chime.com.

To learn more about how Chime collects and uses your personal information during the application process, please see the Chime Applicant Privacy Notice.