Photonic Circuits Designer

Job Title

Photonic Circuits Designer

Role Summary

Individual contributor on the Circuits team responsible for designing photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and associated analysis, test planning, and tooling to support scale-up of a silicon-photonics quantum computer.

The role focuses on PIC schematics and floor planning for complex photonic switch networks, predictive performance modeling, and development of software tools for optical and quantum simulations. Work involves close collaboration with photonics, electronics, test, manufacturing, and system teams.

Experience Level

Mid-level individual contributor. No explicit years-of-experience range stated.

Responsibilities

Core responsibilities include circuit design, analysis, and tool development for photonic circuits used in large-scale quantum systems.

• Design PIC schematics and floor plans for complex photonic switch networks.
• Perform predictive modeling, circuit analysis, and design checks.
• Develop screening and test plans to support manufacturing and validation.
• Design and implement software functionality within the in-house design flow for optical and quantum simulations.
• Develop methodologies to evaluate implementation concepts and feasibility.
• Collaborate with photonics, electronics, test, manufacturing, and system architecture teams on data-driven circuit analysis.

Requirements

Must-have and preferred technical skills and experience.

• Must-have: Ability to work effectively on first-of-a-kind photonic circuit designs and collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Must-have: Proficient programming in Python for analysis and tooling.
• Must-have: Experience extracting predictive models, performing circuit analysis, and running design checks.
• Preferred: Experience with high-speed electro-optic phase shifters and familiarity with photonic circuit concepts and GDS layout.
• Preferred: Familiarity with git workflows and CI/CD pipelines.
• Preferred: Working knowledge of quantum mechanics/quantum computing.
• Useful: Background in analog and/or digital electrical circuit design; professional experience releasing production code and familiarity with JavaScript/TypeScript and modern front-end frameworks.

Education Requirements

PhD or equivalent in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or a related technical field ("or equivalent practical experience" explicitly accepted).

About the Company

Company: PsiQuantum

Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA, United States

PsiQuantum develops silicon-photonic quantum computers aimed at building million-qubit, fault-tolerant systems. Founded in 2016, the company combines semiconductor manufacturing processes, photonic hardware, and quantum software to scale quantum systems for commercial and government applications.