Silicon Photonics Design Engineer - Dallas, TX, United States
Originally posted 6 October 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves designing silicon photonics solutions for advanced data communications applications and establishing methodologies, tools, and automation flows for silicon photonics design. You will be responsible for the design and layout of transmit and receive Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs).
What you'll do
- Design and develop passive and active PIC components like modulators and Ge-based waveguide detectors for high performance datacom applications.
- Work with systems and design teams to translate system specifications into circuit level requirements.
- Collaborate with layout team to create DRC clean layouts that meet specifications and guarantee high yields.
- Engage with systems and packaging teams to architect, design, and simulate advanced packaging solutions for high bandwidth and high-density interfaces.
- Drive test methodology and collaborate with characterization and product engineering teams for product validation and production ramp.
- Collaborate with technology development team to define process requirements and specifications for new silicon photonics platforms.
What you'll need
- Master’s or PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, Photonics, or Optical Communications.
- Experience with high-speed modulator and detector design, passive photonic component design, and photonic integrated circuit design.
- Strong understanding of PIC circuit design and layout, with experience contributing to or leading PIC tapeouts.
- Experience with electromagnetic and photonic simulators such as HFSS, Lumerical, Tidy3D, PhotonDesign, Optiwave, COMSOL.
- Proficiency with IC design tools (Cadence Virtuoso, Maestro, LayoutXL) and photonic design enablement tools such as Synopsys, Luceda, GDSFactory.
Nice to have
- Experience with Electronic-Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) flows, co-simulating photonic circuits with CMOS driver/TIA circuits.
- Experience using scripted layout frameworks to automate complex photonic routing.
- Experience with package and board design tools such as Synopsys Altium and Cadence Allegro.
- Experience with hands-on silicon photonics volume test and wafer-level test automation.
- Understanding of end applications related to optical networking, including pluggable modules and co-packaged optics.
Skills: silicon photonics, PIC components, modulators, Ge-based waveguide detectors, photonic integrated circuit design, Cadence Virtuoso
This role has been open 2 days — well below the 71-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
135
|
Median days open
71 d
|
Median salary
$199k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Texas Instruments | All employers we track in this specialty (135 roles · 32 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 2 | 135 |
| Median days open | 10 d | 71 d (−61 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $199k |
Skills observed across this category: silicon photonics, PIC components, modulators, Ge-based waveguide detectors, photonic integrated circuit design, Cadence Virtuoso
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp · 16 open roles · median 79 d
- GlobalFoundries · 16 open roles · median 71 d
- Lightmatter · 16 open roles · median 86 d
- Lumentum · 10 open roles · median 66 d
- Marvell Technology · 8 open roles · median 95 d
- Keysight Technologies · 7 open roles · median 35 d
How we counted: 135 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 32 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 9 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.