Digital IC Engineer (Photonic AI Computing)

Location: Berkeley, California, United States; fully onsite

Salary: $180,000–$220,000 base salary per year plus equity, depending on experience

Company

Early-stage photonic computing startup with $15M in seed funding, live customers, and optical tensor cores already taped out, building a new generation of AI processors.

What you will do

• Design RTL for DSP, control, and interface logic.
• Develop digital interfaces to analog and photonic hardware.
• Own synthesis, timing closure, and physical implementation.
• Develop digital design tools and CAD flows.
• Lead silicon bring-up, validation, and debugging.
• Collaborate with analog, photonics, and packaging engineers while shaping the design flow.

Requirements

• Hands-on digital IC or ASIC design experience.
• Strong RTL design skills.
• Experience taking designs through synthesis and implementation.
• Availability to work fully onsite in Berkeley, California.

Nice to have

• Experience with DSP, mixed-signal interfaces, or silicon bring-up.

Culture & Benefits

• Substantial technical ownership over the digital side of mixed-signal chips and the design flow.
• Close collaboration with analog, photonics, and packaging engineers.
• Base salary of $180,000–$220,000 plus equity, depending on experience.
• Seniority is flexible depending on experience.