Principal Silicon Photonics Engineer

Principal Silicon Photonics Engineer

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Location Bay Area, CA (onsite — a physical lab/office in the Bay Area)

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Type Full-time

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About the Company

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Our client is a company building revolutionary photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to break the energy and latency limits of AI compute. This is a venture-backed company spun out of leading photonics research, with core IPs and active government and commercial programs. They are a small, fast-moving team building foundational hardware and architecture for the next era of computing.

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The Role

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As Principal Silicon Photonics Engineer, you'll own photonic chip design end-to-end — from device and circuit design through tape-out, wafer-scale test, and packaging. You'll be a technical anchor on a small team, setting design standards, driving tape-outs across commercial foundries, and working shoulder-to-shoulder with the EIC, systems, and research colleagues. This is a foundational hire: your work will directly shape the architecture and the roadmap.

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What You'll Do

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• Design PICs hands-on — devices and circuits — and carry them from concept through validated PIC chips
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• Lead full PIC tape-outs end-to-end with commercial foundries, including PDK selection and design-rule compliance
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• Plan and design for wafer-scale testing and packaging; build in test structures and post-fab validation strategy
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• Break down large photonic systems, anticipate failure modes, and debug points of failure
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• Drive PIC ↔ high-speed EIC integration and co-design (electronics / thermal / packaging)
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• Run high-speed photonic simulation and modeling to de-risk designs before fab
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• Set design methodology and mentor a small, growing team
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Required Qualifications

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• 5-10+ years of industry experience in photonic integrated circuit design
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• MS in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, or Applied Physics
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• Demonstrated hands-on PIC design and complex full PIC architecture design and modeling
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• Ownership of at least 5 full PIC tape-out through commercial foundries
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• Proficiency with device-level photonic simulation/design tools (e.g., Lumerical; Tidy3D or comparable, HFSS)
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• Commercial foundry experience — able to speak to products you designed, shipped, and owned
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• Silicon photonics experience, including test structures and post-fab validation planning
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• Familiarity with most active photonic devices, e.g., diode lasers, modulators, or photodetectors, and nonlinear optics
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• Layout experience for wafer-scale testing and for packaging
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• Bay Area based, or willing to relocate to the Bay Area
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Strongly Preferred

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• High-speed photonics simulation and modeling experience (interfacing many high-speed signals)
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• Experience integrating with high-speed EICs — PIC/EIC co-design, packaging, thermal, and electronics co-design
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• Experience leading a product and project through development on a small team
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• A clear track record of real innovation (in graduate work or in industry)
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Bonus Points

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• PhD in a relevant field
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• Inverse design experience
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• Integrating photonics with AI tooling (e.g., AI-assisted / scripted layout to accelerate workflow)
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• Process development / custom process exposure (III-V on silicon, SiGe, process control monitoring)
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• Startup experience — comfort with ambiguity and risk
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• Experience with amplifiers and lasers (SOAs) in addition to modulators/photodetectors
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Who You Are

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• High agency — you do what’s needed without waiting for permission
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• Thrive on a small team and enjoy close, hands-on collaboration
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• Highly collaborative with colleagues across a diverse range of deep expertise
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• Excellent communicator — you can explain complex concepts simply, to technical peers, foundries, customers, and investors
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Statement from the Company: Export Control Requirements

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To conform with the U.S. Government export regulations, as a condition of employment the applicant must be a (1) U.S. citizen or national, (2) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (a.k.a., green card holder), (3) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, (4) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or (5) otherwise eligible to obtain the required export authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security.

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We are an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with the company is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin or ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

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Berkner Group has been retained to execute this search. If you were contacted by Berkner Group, please reply to the person who contacted you. If you are applying to a job posting, please email your resume and a brief introduction to careers@berknergroup.com. Please include your name and the title for this position ([Your name] - Principal Silicon Photonics Engineer - V649VR76) in the subject line of your email. We look forward to hearing from you!

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