Lead Photonics Design Engineer - III-V Components

Job Title

Lead Photonics Design Engineer - III-V Components

Role Summary

Lead development of III-V active photonic devices for integration with silicon photonics, taking designs from epitaxial stack and device modelling through fabrication with external partners, characterization, reliability testing and qualification.

Work on a multi-disciplinary research team to define device specifications and technology roadmaps, and deliver production-capable devices and test strategies.

Experience Level

Senior. Role expects significant senior technical experience: the posting specifies PhD holders with 6+ years' relevant experience or Master's holders with 8+ years; candidates should have multiple years (≥4) of hands-on III-V amplifier or semiconductor laser development.

Responsibilities

You will own device design, fabrication coordination, test strategy, and technical leadership for III-V active components.

• Lead design and modelling of III-V active devices: epitaxial layer stacks, gain and power modelling, optical mode, electrical and thermal design.
• Define device specifications and translate system requirements into device and integration targets.
• Prepare mask designs and tape-outs (GDS), test structures and design-of-experiment splits.
• Manage fabrication runs with external epitaxy and foundry partners: define process flows, review process and in-line data, address yield and scale-up issues.
• Define and execute characterisation strategy at wafer, chip and integrated-PIC levels; build and automate test setups.
• Analyse test data, correlate performance with design/process variations, and iterate on designs to meet targets.
• Collaborate with packaging and reliability teams on burn-in, accelerated ageing, failure analysis and qualification.
• Mentor engineers and support hiring and development as the team grows.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, demonstrated delivery, and leadership experience.

• Proven track record of taking III-V devices from concept through design, fabrication and test, ideally including qualification.
• Deep understanding of semiconductor laser and amplifier physics (optical gain, carrier dynamics, quantum-well design, noise, gain saturation, nonlinearities, thermal effects, polarization).
• Hands-on knowledge of III-V epitaxy and fabrication processes (e.g. MOCVD/MBE growth, lithography, etching, passivation, metallisation, facet/AR coating) and experience working with external foundries.
• Experience characterising amplifiers or lasers: optical spectrum analysis, gain and noise measurement, wafer-level probing, temperature-controlled testing and test automation.
• Experience with photonic simulation and layout tools such as Lumerical, Photon Design, Crosslight, RSoft, COMSOL, KLayout, L-Edit or Cadence Virtuoso.
• Proven ability to lead technical projects across design, process, test and packaging functions and to mentor or supervise engineers.
• Strong verbal and written communication, critical thinking, attention to detail and self-motivation.

Nice-to-have

• Experience integrating III‑V active devices with silicon photonics, including coupling design between III‑V and silicon waveguides.
• Line-management experience for technical teams.
• Experience with reliability testing and failure analysis of III‑V devices.
• Experience developing PDK building blocks or compact models for active devices.
• Programming for simulation, test automation and data analysis (Python, MATLAB or C++).
• Knowledge of photonic packaging (fibre coupling, thermal design, TEC control) and a history of patents or research publications.

Education Requirements

PhD in physics, photonics, electrical engineering, optical engineering or a related subject with 6+ years' relevant experience, or a Master's degree with 8+ years' relevant experience. The posting also expects at least ~4 years of hands-on development of III‑V optical amplifiers or semiconductor lasers. Specific fields listed: physics, photonics, electrical/optical engineering or related technical disciplines.

About the Company

Company: Salience Labs

Headquarters: Oxford, United Kingdom

Salience Labs develops integrated photonics technologies and solutions, focusing on experimental characterisation, device development and engineering for advanced optical and photonic systems. They work across photonic design, manufacturing and system testing, supporting R&D and product development.