Principal Photonics IC Design Engineer - CA, Santa Clara, United States
$232,000 - $368,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 12 August 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves serving as the technical lead for photonics integrated circuit (PIC) product delivery, from architecture definition through production tapeout and silicon validation. The role specifically focuses on co-packaged optical interconnects for advanced AI supercomputers.
What you'll do
- Own end-to-end PIC product delivery: architecture, design, layout, DRC/LVS verification, tapeout, and post-silicon validation on advanced silicon photonics platforms.
- Lead cross-functional execution across photonic device, analog/mixed-signal, packaging, and systems teams.
- Drive tapeout schedules, define design milestones, and resolve critical path issues across multiple concurrent PIC programs.
- Architect optical transceiver PICs integrating modulators, photodetectors, wavelength multiplexing, waveguides, and optical couplers for high-speed and/or DWDM applications.
- Define and improve PIC design methodology, automation (e.g., scripted DRC, parameterized cells), and verification flows in Cadence and related EDA tools.
- Mentor and technically guide a team of photonics designers; set technical direction for the photonics PIC roadmap.
What you'll need
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or a closely related field with emphasis on integrated photonics, silicon photonics, or photonic device physics (or equivalent experience).
- 8+ years of industry experience in photonics IC design, with demonstrated progression into technical leadership roles.
- Deep hands-on expertise with Cadence design environment (Virtuoso, PCell development, SKILL scripting) for photonic IC layout and simulation.
- Proven track record of production tapeouts, driving PICs from design through GDS signoff on a foundry silicon photonics process.
- Strong understanding of photonic device physics: waveguides, passive/active components, ring/MZI modulators, photodetectors, optical couplers.
- Demonstrated technical leadership: setting project scope, making architecture tradeoffs, driving cross-team alignment, and delivering on schedule.
Skills: Photonics IC Design, PIC product, architecture definition, tapeout, silicon validation, Cadence design environment
This role has been open 53 days — well below the 67-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
133
|
Median days open
67 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | NVIDIA | All employers we track in this specialty (133 roles · 33 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 3 | 133 |
| Median days open | 59 d | 67 d (−8 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: Photonics IC Design, PIC product, architecture definition, tapeout, silicon validation, Cadence design environment
Who's hiring in this category
- Lightmatter · 18 open roles · median 81 d
- GlobalFoundries · 16 open roles · median 67 d
- Coherent Corp · 15 open roles · median 75 d
- Lumentum · 9 open roles · median 62 d
- Keysight Technologies · 7 open roles · median 31 d
- Marvell Technology · 7 open roles · median 151 d
How we counted: 133 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 33 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 5 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.