Senior Photonics Design Engineer - Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) / Active Devices)

Job description

Job responsibilities

• Design, simulate, and optimize active and passive silicon photonic components, with a focus on Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers (SOAs), optical switches, modulators, and photodetectors.
• Develop innovative SOA and active device designs to enhance optical performance, optimizing small-signal gain, saturation power, noise figure, bandwidth, and fabrication tolerances.
• Perform electromagnetic, thermal, and multiphysics simulations to model carrier dynamics, heat dissipation, and nonlinearities across active waveguide geometries.
• Design component layouts and dedicated test structures for III-V/Si heterogeneous integration, collaborating with layout engineers to ensure robust thermal management and electrical contact routing.
• Drive component development through foundry tapeouts, including design reviews, verification, and coordination with manufacturing partners.
• Analyze optical characterization data and wafer-level measurements to validate designs and guide improvements.
• Collaborate with system-level PIC designers to translate system requirements into component specifications.
• Work with foundry partners to understand process capabilities and develop robust, manufacturable designs.

Job requirements

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Photonics, or a related field with 2+ years of relevant experience
• Strong background in silicon photonic component design, with expertise in active devices, III-V/Si integration, and Semiconductor Optical Amplifier (SOA) physics and simulation.
• Demonstrated experience designing integrated photonic devices and bringing designs through silicon photonics foundry tapeouts.
• Solid understanding of waveguide optics, photonic device physics, and semiconductor fabrication processes.
• Proficiency with photonic simulation tools such as Ansys Lumerical, Tidy3D, COMSOL, or equivalent.
• Ability to analyze experimental characterization data and translate results into design improvements.
• Strong problem-solving skills, technical independence, and ability to collaborate in a multidisciplinary team.