CAD/PDK Engineer - Photonics Automation of Mask Flows

OpenLight Photonics Inc.; Goleta (CA); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401k matching

Unlimited vacation

Spot bonuses

Job summary

OpenLight Photonics is seeking a software/EDA engineer to join the Design Enablement team at the heart of silicon photonics. You’ll build and maintain software that turns photonic chip designs into manufacturable mask data and own automation for the PDK and mask release processes.

You will stand up CI/CD pipelines, collaborate with EDA vendors, and work with process engineers to automate manual steps, driving quality and reliability in our photonics workflow.

Qualifications

• B.S./M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Physics, or related field.
• Strong Python skills and solid software engineering fundamentals.
• Experience with version control, CI/CD pipelines, and Agile practices.
• Exposure to EDA tool flows or scripting interfaces (SKILL, Tcl, Synopsys ICV, KLayout, IPKISS, GDSFactory) or ability to learn quickly.
• Good problem solving, communication, organizational and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain automated mask build workflows that assemble PIC designs into GDS artwork, reproducibly and on schedule.
• Build and release the OpenLight PDK: device libraries, parameterized cells, models, and views across EDA platforms; own physical verification infrastructure.
• Stand up CI/CD pipelines, regression suites, and automated QA for PDK and mask release processes.
• Partner with EDA vendors to validate the PDK on their platforms.
• Collaborate with process engineers, device designers, and PIC Architects to automate manual steps.
• Monitor quality escapes, perform root-cause analysis, and drive improvements.

Skills

Python

CI/CD

Agile

Version control

Problem solving

Communication

Education

Electrical Engineering

Computer Science

Applied Physics

Tools

GDSFactory

Tcl

SKILL

Synopsys ICV

KLayout

IPKISS

Job description

OpenLight Photonics is seeking a software/EDA engineer to join the Design Enablement team at the heart of silicon photonics. You’ll build and maintain software that turns photonic chip designs into manufacturable mask data and own automation for the PDK and mask release processes.

You will stand up CI/CD pipelines, collaborate with EDA vendors, and work with process engineers to automate manual steps, driving quality and reliability in our photonics workflow.