Staff/Sr Staff Electro-Optic Link Codesign Engineer - Boston, MA

Originally posted 25 August 2026 by the employer.

Own end-to-end electro-optic link co-design, simulation, and silicon verification for the Passage™ platform.

About the role

You will own the end-to-end simulation, co-design, and laboratory verification of photonic-electronic links in Passage™ — from photonic device modeling through to full transceiver channel characterization in silicon. This includes driving co-design between photonic and analog circuit teams to link optical device performance to system-level BER and link margin.

What you'll do

- Develop, own, and improve electro-optic link simulation models covering photonic device, propagation, and channel BER from electron to photon to electron. - Build multi-physics models combining optical propagation (VPI Photonics, Lumerical INTERCONNECT / FDTD, sax) and analog circuit behavior (Cadence Virtuoso / Spectre, Verilog-A) into a unified link analysis framework. - Execute corner analysis, Monte Carlo variation sweeps, and process-voltage-temperature (PVT) studies to bound link margin and recommend specification changes. - Collaborate with analog circuit designers to co-optimize transmitter driver and receiver front-end architectures across the optical-electrical boundary. - Contribute to simulation-to-silicon closure methodology for Passage optical links, defining test protocols and iterating link models against measured data across process splits and device corners. - Author and review photonic link architectural specifications, co-design interface requirements, and design-entry criteria.

What you'll need

- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Physics, or a closely related photonics/optics discipline with 5+ years of experience, or an MS with 8+ years of relevant industry experience at a photonic IC, transceiver, or optical interconnect company. - Expertise in photonic device physics and system-level optical link design, including silicon photonic modulators, Ge photodetectors, passive WDM components, optical amplifiers, and coherent or intensity-modulated link topologies. - Hands-on proficiency with photonic simulation tools such as VPI Photonics, Lumerical FDTD / INTERCONNECT, or equivalent optical co-simulation tools. - Experience with analog and mixed-signal simulation using Cadence Virtuoso / Spectre, Verilog-A behavioral modeling, or Keysight ADS. - Hands-on high-speed laboratory test skills using VNAs, S-parameter characterization, optical spectrum analyzers, real-time oscilloscopes, BER test sets, optical modulation analyzers (OMA), and optical power meters. - Proficiency in Python for simulation scripting, measurement automation, and statistical post-processing, alongside familiarity with SERDES architecture (FFE, DFE, CTLE, CDR).

Nice to have

- Silicon photonics tape-out and post-silicon characterization experience with PDK-level device models and simulation-to-measurement correlation. - Exposure to co-packaged optics (CPO), near-package optics (NPO), or optical I/O chiplet integration challenges. - Signal processing knowledge covering DSP for optical communications, forward error correction (FEC), or PAM-4 / NRZ / coherent modulation format trade-offs and simulation. - Experience with Monte Carlo and statistical design methodologies applied to photonic-electronic system co-design.