Photonics Design Engineer - Boston
Originally posted 5 May 2026 by the employer — open 139 days.
About the role
This role focuses on expanding Ayo’s component library in its custom InP platform, and designing, analyzing, and testing photonic circuits and sub-circuits.
What you'll do
- Design and optimize integrated optical components.
- Lay out photonic integrated circuits for test devices, sub-system capabilities, and full prototype chips.
- Collect and analyze test data from test circuits.
- Develop and maintain models of components, informed by underlying physics and measured data.
- Provide expertise and support to other team members.
What you'll need
- PhD in optics, electrical engineering, physics, or related field with a focus on integrated photonics.
- Experience designing, simulating, and testing integrated photonic devices.
- Experience using commercial simulation tools (such as Ansys/Lumerical, Tidy3D, Rsoft or similar).
- Experience with at least one tape out.
- Proficiency with Python.
Nice to have
- Experience with script-based device/circuit layout.
- Experience designing and laying out photonic integrated circuits.
- Experience probing/testing photonic integrated circuits.
- Experience designing lasers.
Skills: integrated optical components, photonic integrated circuits, commercial simulation tools, tape out, script-based device/circuit layout
This role has been open 19 days — well below the 61-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
121
|
Median days open
61 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Ayo | All employers we track in this specialty (121 roles · 31 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 121 |
| Median days open | 19 d | 61 d (−42 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: integrated optical components, photonic integrated circuits, commercial simulation tools, tape out, script-based device/circuit layout
Who's hiring in this category
- GlobalFoundries · 18 open roles · median 55 d
- Lightmatter · 17 open roles · median 68 d
- Coherent Corp · 15 open roles · median 61 d
- Lumentum · 8 open roles · median 48 d
- PsiQuantum · 6 open roles · median 110 d
- Ayar Labs · 5 open roles · median 45 d
How we counted: 121 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 31 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 Sept 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.