Staff Silicon Photonics Engineer, Receiver (Rx)

Location: Austin, Texas or Sunnyvale, California; full-time onsite position

Salary: $230K–$280K plus equity

Company

hirify.global is a startup developing silicon photonics and programmable metasurface technology for energy-efficient AI inference hardware.

What you will do

• Lead the receiver photonic integrated circuit for the OPU platform and T100 optical AI inference chip, from photodetector device design through chip-level architecture.
• Define optical input coupling, routing, demultiplexing, and dense photodetector-array layouts against system-level link and power budgets.
• Design and optimize high-speed Ge-on-Si PIN and avalanche photodetectors for responsivity, dark current, capacitance, bandwidth, linearity, and saturation.
• Model devices and receivers using optical, electrical, RF, and circuit-level simulation, including PD–TIA co-design.
• Lead layout, verification, tapeout, and silicon validation in foundry photonics PDKs, working with electronic IC, optics, packaging, and test teams.
• Analyze crosstalk, uniformity, thermal behavior, yield, and receiver performance; define test structures and use characterization results to improve subsequent designs.

Requirements

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Physics, or a related field.
• At least 3 years of relevant experience in high-speed silicon photonics focused on photodetectors and receiver PICs.
• Hands-on experience designing Ge-on-Si or equivalent high-speed photodetectors, including responsivity, bandwidth, capacitance, and dark-current trade-offs.
• Proficiency with photonic and device simulation tools such as Lumerical/Ansys, COMSOL, Synopsys TCAD, or equivalent, and with photodetector circuit-level modeling.
• Experience laying out and taping out silicon photonics designs in a foundry PDK using tools such as KLayout, gdsfactory, Cadence Virtuoso, or equivalent.
• Working knowledge of optical receiver fundamentals, including TIA interfacing, noise, sensitivity, and PAM4 signal integrity.

Nice to have

• 5+ years of experience developing high-speed silicon photonics receivers or photodetectors.
• Experience across the complete design-to-tapeout-to-fabrication-to-test cycle.
• Experience with large or dense photodetector arrays and free-space or surface-normal optical coupling.
• Experience co-designing photodetectors with CMOS/SiGe TIAs in monolithic, flip-chip, or 3D-integrated receivers.
• Experience with avalanche photodiodes, III-V/Si heterogeneous detectors, or publications or patents in photodetectors and receivers.

Culture & Benefits

• Work onsite in a collaborative startup environment at the intersection of photonics and AI hardware.
• 100% coverage of base health plan premiums for employees and dependents, with HSA contributions.
• Unlimited PTO.
• 401(k) matching and stock option opportunities.
• Dental, vision, life, hospital, critical illness, accident, and other voluntary benefits with personalized plan choices.