Senior Photonic IC Design Engineer for DWDM Systems

Nutanix; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 139,000 - 209,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus program

RSU grants

Competitive benefits

Job summary

Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a photonic IC designer to define, design, and develop photonic integrated circuits for silicon photonics platforms targeting high-speed optical interconnects and DWDM transceivers. You will use 3D simulations and AI-assisted workflows to automate design and data analysis.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, review layouts, and participate in post-fabrication characterization to close the loop between simulation and hardware.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics, or related field; 5+ years PIC design experience OR Master's with 3+ years OR PhD with 1+ year PIC design experience.
• 2+ years hands-on with Lumerical (FDTD, MODE, CHARGE, INTERCONNECT), and any layout editor/viewer (Cadence Virtuoso, KLayout, or equivalent), and Python.
• Hands-on design experience with silicon-photonics foundry PDKs.
• System-level understanding of optical link budgets, DWDM channel plans, OMA/TDECQ, and transceiver power allocation.

Responsibilities

• Design active (MRM, MZM, photodetectors) and passive (edge/grating couplers, power splitters, wavelength MUX/DEMUX) photonic devices from spec through tape-out using foundry PDKs and 3D structure optical simulation.
• Perform 3D photonic simulation (FDTD, MODE, INTERCONNECT, CHARGE) to validate device performance and iterate to target specs.
• Develop and maintain script-based workflows—leveraging AI-assisted tooling—to automate parameter sweeps, layout generation, and measurement-data processing.
• Review and sign off on PIC physical layouts produced by the dedicated layout engineer from the physical design team.
• Collaborate with PIC designers, EIC designers, and package teams to run co-simulations and validate electro-optical performance in the full DWDM transceiver system.
• Execute and interpret post-fabrication characterization lab testing and close simulation-to-hardware loop by correlating data with models.

Job description

Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. in Santa Clara, CA seeks a photonic IC designer to define, design, and develop photonic integrated circuits for silicon photonics platforms targeting high-speed optical interconnects and DWDM transceivers. You will use 3D simulations and AI-assisted workflows to automate design and data analysis.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, review layouts, and participate in post-fabrication characterization to close the loop between simulation and hardware.