Intern - Photonics Design Software & Automation Engineer (PhD Level) - US-CA-Santa Clara-Bldg 4-Keysi, United States
Originally posted 19 October 2026 by the employer.
Develop automation frameworks and multi-step simulation pipelines connecting RSoft, CODE V, and LightTools APIs.
About the role
This role involves designing, modeling, and analyzing photonic devices, subsystems, and integrated photonic systems using RSoft and related simulation software. Work focuses on developing software and automation frameworks to orchestrate multi-step simulation, optimization, and evaluation pipelines across RSoft, CODE V, and LightTools APIs.
What you'll do
- Design, model, and analyze photonic devices, subsystems, and integrated photonic systems using RSoft and related photonic simulation tools. - Develop software and automation frameworks for photonic design, electromagnetic simulation, optimization, and design trade studies. - Design and prototype agentic or semi-autonomous workflows that orchestrate multi-step photonic simulation, optimization, and evaluation pipelines. - Integrate RSoft, CODE V, and LightTools through software APIs and custom workflow automation to connect photonics, optical system, and illumination analyses. - Develop and validate numerical algorithms for optimization, workflow integration, and engineering decision support. - Explore AI-assisted or rule-based approaches for photonic design iteration, design-space exploration, and workflow coordination.
What you'll need
- Active status as a PhD candidate in Photonics, Optics, Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field. - Strong foundation in electromagnetics, wave optics, photonic devices, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), optical communications, and computational photonics. - Hands-on experience with photonics design and simulation tools such as RSoft, Lumerical, COMSOL, or similar platforms. - Advanced programming skills in C++/Rust and Python. - Experience building research-grade or production-quality software tools. - Familiarity with agent-based, workflow-oriented, or multi-step automation frameworks.
Nice to have
- Experience designing photonic integrated circuits (PICs), optical communication systems, silicon photonics devices, waveguides, couplers, gratings, lasers, modulators, or related photonic technologies. - Experience with large-scale optimization problems involving photonic structures, inverse design, metasurfaces, or electromagnetic devices. - Knowledge of electromagnetic simulation methods including FDTD, BPM, RCWA, FEM, or similar techniques. - API-level integration with commercial photonics simulation tools. - Experience building software workflows that connect multiple engineering applications, including photonics, optical design, and system-level simulation environments. - Familiarity with modern software development practices, including source control, code reviews, automated testing, and CI/CD.
Skills: photonic devices, integrated photonic systems, RSoft, photonic simulation, software automation
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 75-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
130
|
Median days open
75 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Keysight Technologies | All employers we track in this specialty (130 roles · 29 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 7 | 130 |
| Median days open | 46 d | 75 d (−29 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: photonic devices, integrated photonic systems, RSoft, photonic simulation, software automation
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp · 17 open roles · median 89 d
- GlobalFoundries · 16 open roles · median 75 d
- Lightmatter · 13 open roles · median 94 d
- Lumentum · 9 open roles · median 76 d
- Marvell Technology · 8 open roles · median 41 d
- Intel Corporation · 7 open roles · median 59 d
How we counted: 130 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 29 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 19 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.