Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer (Remote)

Role overview

Design and develop silicon photonic components for integrated circuits used in optical switching and chip-scale sensing. You will own component work from early concepts and simulation through layout, foundry submission, and measurement, working with system designers and manufacturing partners to meet performance and production needs.

Responsibilities

- Design and optimize active and passive devices such as switches, waveguides, couplers, splitters, mode converters, and photodetectors. - Use electromagnetic and multiphysics simulations to refine device geometry and operating conditions. - Improve optical performance, including loss, crosstalk, bandwidth, power use, and tolerance to fabrication variation. - Develop layouts and test structures with layout engineers, and guide designs through reviews, verification, and foundry tapeouts. - Analyze optical and wafer-level measurements, using results to validate designs and plan improvements. - Translate system requirements into component specifications and coordinate with fabrication partners on manufacturable designs.

Requirements

- Ph.D. in electrical engineering, applied physics, photonics, or a related field; alternatively, a master’s degree with substantial relevant industry experience. - Strong experience designing silicon photonic components and optimizing them with electromagnetic simulation. - Track record of taking integrated photonic devices through silicon photonics foundry tapeouts. - Knowledge of waveguide optics, photonic device physics, and semiconductor fabrication. - Proficiency with a photonic simulation package such as Lumerical, Tidy3D, COMSOL, or an equivalent tool. - Ability to interpret experimental characterization data, work independently, and collaborate across disciplines.

Nice to have

- Experience with photonic switches, phase shifters, MMIs, mode converters, or polarization-handling devices. - Familiarity with silicon nitride, multilayer integration, heterogeneous platforms, or O-band and C-band designs. - Python or MATLAB skills for simulation automation, optimization, or data analysis. - Experience with wafer-level testing, fabrication variation, or statistical performance modeling.