Photonics Layout Engineer - Palo Alto, California, United States
$139,800 - $164,300 USD yearly
Originally posted 26 October 2026 by the employer.
Photonics layout engineering using GDSFactory, Synopsys, and Cadence for silicon photonic integrated circuits.
About the role
This role is responsible for the design, layout, and verification of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for foundry fabrication. The work translates photonic designs and process requirements into manufacturable layouts using Python-based and commercial layout tools for a silicon photonic quantum computer architecture.
What you'll do
- Prepare and maintain photonic layouts from individual components to complex circuits using passive and active components. - Drive foundry tapeouts from layout implementation to physical verification, including design rule checking (DRC), layout versus schematic (LVS), fill, and density checks. - Develop and maintain layout infrastructure and automation tools to enhance layout quality and workflow efficiency. - Contribute to PDK development by implementing and validating layout components and design rules. - Prepare documentation and handoff materials for foundry tapeouts.
What you'll need
- Master’s degree, PhD, or equivalent in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Material Science, or Physics. - 2 years of relevant work or academic research experience in integrated photonics and layout. - Experience creating layouts for photonic integrated circuits and mapping photonic components and circuits to physical layouts. - Experience with photonic layout tools such as GDSFactory, Synopsys, or Cadence. - Python programming skills for layout generation, automation, or numerical analysis. - Experience with silicon photonic manufacturing processes, foundry design rules, tapeout workflows, and Git.
Skills: PIC, photonic layout, DRC, LVS, GDSFactory
This role has been open 0 days — well below the 80-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
136
|
Median days open
80 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | PsiQuantum | All employers we track in this specialty (136 roles · 30 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 8 | 136 |
| Median days open | 138 d | 80 d (+58 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: PIC, photonic layout, DRC, LVS, GDSFactory
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp · 17 open roles · median 96 d
- GlobalFoundries · 16 open roles · median 82 d
- Lightmatter · 14 open roles · median 101 d
- Lumentum · 10 open roles · median 83 d
- Marvell Technology · 10 open roles · median 38 d
- Intel Corporation · 7 open roles · median 66 d
How we counted: 136 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 30 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 26 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.