PIC Design Engineer

Opticore; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Opticore, headquartered in Berkeley, California, seeks an experienced Photonic IC Designer to own the end-to-end design, simulation, and tape-out of photonic circuits for our AI-centric photonic computing platform.

You will lead device-level design through layout, verification, and collaboration with foundry partners, packaging, and measurements teams to ensure performance aligns with system requirements.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in photonic integrated circuit design.
• Deep understanding of silicon photonics device physics.
• PhD or postdoc in photonics or related field is welcomed.

Responsibilities

• Design and simulate photonic devices and circuits (waveguides, modulators, detectors).
• Own layout, DRC/LVS, and tape-out for photonic designs end-to-end.
• Work across teams to ensure photonic designs meet system-level electrical and optical requirements.
• Interface with the packaging team on photonic assembly and integration constraints.
• Collaborate with the measurements team to define and support device characterization.

Skills

Photonic IC design

Device physics

Cross-functional collab

5+ yrs photonics

Education

PhD or Postdoc in photonics/EE

Tools

Lumerical

Cadence

Synopsys

KLayout

Job description

Conventional chips are hitting a wall, and as AI inference demand grows, power consumption is becoming the single biggest constraint on deployment at scale.

Opticore is developing a photonic computing system that accelerates artificial intelligence workloads with exceptional speed and energy efficiency. Opticore is headquartered in Berkeley, California.

About the Role

You will own the design, simulation, and tape-out of photonic integrated circuits at the core of our computing platform. This is a hands-on, end-to-end role, from device-level design through layout, verification, and working directly with foundry partners to bring chips to silicon. You will collaborate closely with our EIC design, packaging, and measurements teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and simulate photonic devices and circuits (waveguides, modulators, detectors, couplers, etc.)
• Own layout, DRC/LVS, and tape-out for photonic designs end-to-end
• Work across teams to ensure photonic designs meet system-level electrical and optical requirements
• Interface with the packaging team on photonic assembly and integration constraints
• Collaborate with the measurements team to define and support device characterization

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in photonic integrated circuit design
• Proficiency in Lumerical, Cadence, Synopsys, and KLayout
• Demonstrated experience owning tape-outs from design through tapeout
• Deep understanding of silicon photonics device physics
• Strong track record in industry; candidates with photonics research backgrounds (PhD/postdoc) will also be considered

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with co-packaged optics or photonic-electronic integration
• Familiarity with high-speed electro-optic modulator design