Laser Architect

PassFort; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity & Ownership

Living-Local Bonus

Retirement Benefits

Competitive Salary

Job summary

OLIX is seeking a Laser Architect to lead the multi-year direction for our laser design team. You will shape architecture, guide epitaxy, device physics, and reliability decisions while collaborating with electronics, optics, packaging, systems, and manufacturing.

You will mentor senior engineers, drive durable solutions, and communicate complex trade-offs to executives. This role demands leadership in a fast-evolving photonics landscape.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in semiconductor laser development with III-V expertise.
• PhD in Physics, Optics, Electrical Engineering, or Materials Science.
• Experience shaping long-term laser architecture beyond single devices.
• Strong collaboration across electronics, optics, packaging, and manufacturing.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and create roadmaps.
• Excellent communication of complex trade-offs to engineers and executives.

Responsibilities

• Shape the architectural vision and multi-year direction for OLIX's lasers, developed with and owned alongside the team
• Bring deep III-V device expertise into design decisions, helping establish shared principles
• Tackle ambiguous, high-stakes device and integration problems with durable direction
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to align on a long-term laser roadmap
• Inform architectural trade-offs across epitaxy, device architecture, packaging, and reliability
• Raise the bar for design, simulation, and reliability in the laser domain
• Bring cutting-edge research, competitive intelligence, and market shifts into the team's thinking
• Mentor Staff and Senior engineers in critical reviews and decisions
• Connect laser decisions to broader business objectives and capital-efficient scaling
• Represent OLIX externally to strengthen talent, partnerships, and positioning

Skills

Laser design leadership

III-V devices

Epitaxy (MBE/MOCVD)

Device physics

Reliability engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Publications/Patents

Mentoring engineers

Effective communication

Education

PhD in Physics/Optics/EE/Materials Science

Job description

About OLIX

AI is growing faster than any technology in history and the explosion in demand has created a massive infrastructure gap; we can no longer build chips or power stations fast enough to keep up. The industry is still leaning on a ten-year-old hardware blueprint that has reached its limit. A new paradigm that is faster and more efficient will be the biggest economic opportunity of the next century and create the most important company of the next decade. The OLIX Decode Accelerator 1 (DX-1) is the first accelerator architected specifically for decode. Rack-scale co-design of logic, data movement, packaging, optics and interconnect enables a step change in system level performance.

The Role

The Laser Architect is the most senior individual-contributor role in our laser design team. You will bring deep expertise in III-V laser devices to shape the architectural direction of OLIX's laser design, working alongside a strong team of engineers on how OLIX designs, builds, and scales its devices.

This is a role for a builder and a collaborator. You will run toward the most ambiguous, high-stakes device and integration problems and help the team converge on a durable direction under uncertainty. Rather than handing down decisions, you contribute your experience, judgement, and first-principles thinking that helps the team make the right architectural trade-offs across epitaxy, device architecture, packaging integration, and reliability: the trade-offs that determine system-level bandwidth, power, and density. The best argument wins here, and we expect you to make it, welcome challenges to it, and change your mind when the evidence says so.

You will partner with electronics, optics, packaging, systems, and manufacturing to build a coherent multi-year laser roadmap, connect technical direction to broader business objectives, and represent OLIX externally in ways that strengthen our talent, partnerships, and positioning.

Responsibilities

• Shape the architectural vision and multi-year direction for OLIX's lasers, developed with and owned alongside the team
• Bring deep III-V device expertise into design decisions, helping the team establish shared design principles and best practices
• Run toward the most ambiguous, high-stakes device and integration problems and help the team build clarity and a durable direction
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders across electronics, optics, packaging, systems, and manufacturing to align on a coherent long-term laser roadmap
• Inform high-impact architectural trade-offs across epitaxy, device architecture, packaging interaction, and reliability that determine system-level performance
• Raise the bar for design, simulation, characterisation, and reliability practice across the laser domain, through example and mentorship rather than mandate
• Continuously bring cutting-edge research, competitive intelligence, and market shifts into the team's thinking
• Mentor and grow Staff and Senior engineers, remaining hands-on in critical reviews and high-stakes decisions
• Connect laser technical decisions to broader business objectives and capital-efficient scaling to volume
• Represent OLIX externally, building industry relationships that strengthen talent, partnerships, and strategic positioning

Skills & Experience

• 15+ years in semiconductor laser development, with deep, demonstrated expertise in III-V devices
• PhD Degree in Physics, Optics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related discipline
• Experience shaping architecture and long-term technical direction for a laser or photonics domain, beyond individual devices or programmes
• Deep command of III-V materials, epitaxy (MBE/MOCVD), device physics, high-speed modulation, and reliability
• A collaborative working style: you influence through expertise, evidence, and clear reasoning, not title or tenure, and you engage the strongest counter-argument in the room
• Proven ability to bring diverse cross-functional stakeholders together around a long-term technical vision
• Track record of helping teams develop shared design principles, standards, and roadmaps
• External engagement in the field through publications, patents, standards bodies, or industry involvement
• Experience mentoring engineers at all levels and elevating the people around you
• Exceptional communicator, able to make complex trade-offs clear to engineers and executives alike, and equally comfortable being questioned by both

Nice to Have

• Experience with co-packaged or co-designed optics at rack scale
• Track record founding or scaling a laser or photonics device line
• Deep knowledge of datacom reliability standards
• Experience co-designing lasers with custom driver ASICs
• Visible industry leadership through talks, committees, or standards work

Compensation & Equity

• Competitive Salary: Commensurate with your experience, skills, and location
• Equity & Ownership: Meaningful stock options. You’re not just joining the mission; you’re owning a piece of it
• Proximity Bonus: We value your time. To minimise your commute and maximise your life, we offer an annual Living-Local Bonus if your residence is within 20 minutes of the office
• Retirement Benefits: Employer-contributed retirement plans to help you build long-term financial security

Due to U.S. export control regulations, candidates’ eligibility to work at OLIX depends on their most recent citizenship or permanent residency status. We are generally unable to consider applicants whose most recent citizenship or permanent residence is in certain restricted countries (currently including Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Russia, Belarus, China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Venezuela). Applicants who have subsequently obtained citizenship or permanent residency in another country not subject to these restrictions may still be eligible.