Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer (Optical Communications)

TL;DR

Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer (Optical Communications): Designing, simulating, and developing advanced photonic components for cutting-edge optical communication systems with an accent on PIC components, performance optimization, and reliability. Focus on driving innovation for AI-driven bandwidth growth, leading test chip development, and implementing next-generation photonic architectures.

Location: On-site in Santa Clara, California, US

Salary: $141,910–$269,100 USD

Company

hirify.global's Integrated Photonics Solutions (IPS) pioneers silicon photonics integration to enable high-volume manufacturing and AI-driven data center growth.

What you will do

• Design, simulate, and optimize photonic components including modulators, passive devices, and detectors for silicon photonic integrated circuits.
• Lead test chip development, encompassing design, layout, tapeout, testing, and validation.
• Perform tolerance analysis and analyze test data to identify performance gaps and optimize PIC designs.
• Develop and implement modeling methodologies for photonic components and propose new test strategies.
• Conduct research in next-generation photonic architectures to drive innovation and hirify.globallectual property development.
• Collaborate across engineering disciplines to align designs with system-level requirements.

Requirements

• Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Science, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in photonics device design and simulation.
• Proficiency with optical design and simulation tools such as Lumerical (FDTD, MODE, DEVICE, Interconnect), RSoft, or Tidy3D.
• Hands-on experience in photonic integrated circuit design, from concept to high-volume manufacturing.
• Expertise with layout tools such as Cadence and KLayout to support PIC tapeouts.
• Experience managing statistical analysis of photonic test data using JMP, Python, or Matlab.

Nice to have

• Exposure to advanced passive or active components like ring modulators, MZIs, filters, or polarization splitters.
• Experience in inverse design methodologies and circuit-level simulations.
• Experience implementing AI workflows for advanced design.
• Knowledge of system-level link modeling, Monte Carlo analysis, and optical coupling solutions.
• Understanding of advanced electronic ICs (drivers, TIAs, DSPs) and their integration with photonic systems.

Culture & Benefits

• Total compensation package including competitive pay and stock bonuses.
• Comprehensive benefit programs covering health, retirement, and vacation.
• Opportunity to contribute to technological breakthroughs that redefine industry standards in optical communications.