Senior Thermal Mechanical Photonic Designer
Originally posted 30 October 2026 by the employer. Relisted by the employer on 31 October 2026.
About the role
This role is responsible for thermal and structural design of silicon photonic designs within NVIDIA's global circuits team. Work centers on the architecture and mechanical reliability of CMOS and silicon photonics high-speed chip interfaces such as NVLink, PCIe, and USB.
What you'll do
- Execute thermal and structural design of silicon photonic designs and support opto-mechanical system design.
- Run stress simulations in optical components and fiber alignment, proposing design modifications for optical components.
- Set up experimental methodologies for thermal validation and laser performance evaluation under various stress conditions.
- Model Si die-package thermo-mechanical interactions, interfacial delamination, crack propagation, and solder joint fatigue and creep.
- Evaluate hygroscopic stresses caused by moisture diffusion and simulate wire-bonding and wire fusing processes.
- Perform thermal characterization of electronic packages to generate thermal specification datasheets using finite element modeling and experiments according to JEDEC standards.
What you'll need
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a similar discipline (or equivalent experience) with 5+ years of related experience.
- 3+ years of experience developing silicon photonics ICs from initial concept through high-volume manufacturing.
- Proven experience in applied research and product development for optics, photonic systems, and silicon photonics products.
- Proficiency in Ansys tools.
- Experience with design tools and fixtures used for alignment, fabrication, gluing, and assembly of lasers, interferometers, and optical components.
- Experience defining system performance requirements and component specifications.
More semiconductor jobs: NVIDIA jobs · Hardware design jobs · California jobs
This role has been open 140 days — well above the 45-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1062
|
Median days open
45 d
|
Category median salary (all employers)
$154k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | NVIDIA | All employers we track in this specialty (1062 roles · 100 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 55 | 1062 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 1117 | 6358 · 144 employers |
| Median days open | 66 d | 45 d (+21 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $154k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 79 open roles · median 43 d
- KLA Corporation · 60 open roles · median 55 d
- Teradyne · 60 open roles · median 43 d
- Applied Materials · 53 open roles · median 60 d
- ASML · 48 open roles · median 27 d
- NVIDIA (this employer) · 48 open roles · median 64 d
How we counted: 1062 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 100 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 31 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 — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.