Silicon photonics and heterogenous integration R&D engineer - Santa Clara, CA, United States
Originally posted 9 September 2026 by the employer — open 11 days.
The role involves developing silicon photonics and heterogeneously integrated device and circuit concepts for datacom and optical I/O.
About the role
This role involves creating, modeling, and verifying early silicon photonics prototypes. You will develop silicon photonics and heterogeneously integrated device and circuit concepts for datacom, optical I/O, and related platforms.
What you'll do
- Develop silicon photonics and heterogeneously integrated device and circuit concepts.
- Model optical, electrical, thermal, and link-level behavior to guide design choices.
- Define prototype verification objectives and refine designs using early trial results.
- Apply process-integration awareness to ensure designs are compatible with fabrication, test, and metrology constraints.
- Evaluate heterogeneous integration options to improve silicon photonics performance or functionality.
- Coordinate work across design, PDK, fabrication, process-integration, packaging, reliability, test, and external partner teams.
What you'll need
- Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Photonics, Materials Science, or related field.
- >7 years of experience in silicon photonics design, integrated photonics R&D, SiP fabrication-aware design, prototype development, or device verification.
- Hands-on SiP fabrication experience or close collaboration with SiP fabrication teams.
- Experience with heterogeneous integration of non-silicon materials on silicon (e.g., wafer bonding, die bonding, transfer printing, direct bonding, adhesive bonding, or thin-film transfer).
- Experience connecting design choices to optical, electrical, thermal, mechanical, reliability, process-integration, and packaging outcomes for photonic or optoelectronic devices.
- Experience with simulation, data analysis, DOE, documentation, and R&D decision support using Python, Lumerical, COMSOL, JMP, or Excel.
Nice to have
- Packaging experience, including co-packaged optics, optical coupling, fiber attach, PIC / EIC integration, OSAT engagement, or prototype assembly.
- Familiarity with PDKs from multiple fabs, silicon photonics tapeout flows, and layout reviews.
- Experience with silicon photonics tapeouts.
Skills: silicon photonics, heterogeneous integration, device and circuit concepts, optical I/O, process-integration awareness
This role has been open 10 days — well below the 60-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
121
|
Median days open
60 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Coherent Corp | All employers we track in this specialty (121 roles · 31 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 15 | 121 |
| Median days open | 60 d | 60 d (same as this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: silicon photonics, heterogeneous integration, device and circuit concepts, optical I/O, process-integration awareness
Who's hiring in this category
- GlobalFoundries · 18 open roles · median 54 d
- Lightmatter · 17 open roles · median 67 d
- Coherent Corp (this employer) · 15 open roles · median 60 d
- Lumentum · 8 open roles · median 47 d
- PsiQuantum · 6 open roles · median 109 d
- Ayar Labs · 5 open roles · median 44 d
How we counted: 121 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 31 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 20 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.