Lead Silicon Photonics Engineer

Job Title

Lead Silicon Photonics Engineer

Role Summary

Lead the architecture, design, and development of silicon photonic devices for an AI acceleration platform. Work cross-functionally with optics, electrical, mechanical, and software teams to drive design, validation, and manufacturability toward commercial production.

This is an individual contributor role initially, onsite in the U.S., with potential to grow into a people-leadership position.

Experience Level

Senior (lead-level). Requires advanced domain experience: at least 3+ years industry experience in silicon photonics design and 5+ years of electromagnetic simulation experience as indicated in the qualifications.

Responsibilities

Primary technical and program responsibilities include:

• Define and maintain end-to-end optical system link budgets.
• Architect, design, model, and optimize silicon photonic devices (grating couplers, waveguides, SOAs, photodetectors) for high-speed AI applications.
• Collaborate with foundries using PDKs to produce manufacturable designs and manage tape-outs.
• Perform DFM and DFT assessments to ensure scalable production.
• Run and interpret optical and electromagnetic simulations with industry-standard tools.
• Integrate optical fiber assemblies and ensure high-speed system compatibility.
• Conduct experimental validation and laboratory characterization of devices.
• Lead design reviews and author optical test plans, specifications, and manufacturing guidelines.
• Support IP generation and contribute to patent filings for novel photonic designs.
• Mentor junior engineers and improve photonics design practices.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• 3+ years of industry experience in silicon photonics design.
• 5+ years of electromagnetic simulation experience (Lumerical, Ansys, COMSOL, or equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience designing and optimizing photonic integrated circuits (grating couplers, waveguides, SOAs, photodetectors).
• Proven track record taking silicon photonic devices from concept to commercial production with leading foundries.
• Hands-on experience with PDKs, DFM/DFT practices, and managing tape-outs.
• Laboratory experience characterizing and validating silicon photonic devices.
• Familiarity with optical fiber coupling and high-speed photonics system integration.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and cross-disciplinary collaboration skills.

Nice-to-have / preferred:

• Experience in optical communications, quantum or optical computing, or AR-related photonics.
• Knowledge of advanced photonic integration techniques and signal integrity in high-speed systems.
• Proficiency in scripting or programming for design automation and analysis (Python, MATLAB).
• Demonstrated leadership experience or potential to build and manage a technical team.

Education Requirements

PhD in Photonics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline (explicitly specified in the posting).

About the Company

Company: Neurophos

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California, United States

Startup developing silicon-photonic AI accelerator chips that use programmable metasurfaces and dense optical cells to perform matrix multiplications at the speed of light, targeting large-scale AI inference with much higher energy efficiency and performance than traditional electronic approaches.