Senior Photonic Packaging Engineer

PINC Technologies Inc.; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock option plan

Retirement plan with company match

Paid time off (Vacation, sick & public

Life insurance

Short term and long term disability

Company-sponsored team outings

Job summary

PINC Technologies Inc. in Pasadena, CA, is seeking a Senior Photonic Packaging Engineer to lead packaging development for PINC’s PIC products.

You will own package architectures, alignments, thermal and RF integration, and collaborate with design, test, and external manufacturers to scale production.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in a physical or engineering field is required.
• 5+ years in photonic/optical packaging or related field.
• Hands-on packaging of PICs, lasers, modulators, and fiber-coupled systems.
• Strong knowledge of optical alignment, polarization management, and tolerancing.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop advanced photonic packaging solutions for PINC’s PICs.
• Develop mechanical, optical, electrical, RF, and thermal solutions including fiber attach and packaging interfaces.
• Lead reliability qualification plans and long-term testing.
• Collaborate with design, test, and external vendors to scale manufacturing.
• Perform DFM/DFA, tolerance analysis, and yield optimization.
• Create tooling, fixtures, and assembly processes to improve throughput.
• Drive root-cause analysis from optical, mechanical, and thermal data.
• Ensure package performance, manufacturability, and customer deployment goals.

Skills

Photonic packaging

Optical alignment

Fiber attach

Mechanical design

Thermal management

DFM/ DFA

Root-cause analysis

CAD (SolidWorks)

Electrical/RF packaging

Communication skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Applied Physics, or related field

Tools

SolidWorks

COMSOL

Ansys

HFSS

Zemax

Lumerical

SolidWorks Simulation

Job description

The ever growing technological advances in computing, communication, and sensing depend on photonics. PINC builds the transformative integrated photonic platform to address these needs and make that future possible. Our proprietary NanoPPLN photonic platform is based on pioneering advancements from the Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory at Caltech. PINC is an early-stage startup with venture backing from leading financial investors and major global photonics companies.

We are growing quickly and looking for passionate, highly driven, and self-disciplined individuals to join us on this journey, who are excited to push the boundaries of Photonic technologies. This is an excellent opportunity for people who excel in a fast-paced environment, approach challenges with a “can-do” mindset, and work collaboratively to inspire others while helping to build a strong team around them and with them as we scale the company together.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Senior Photonic Packaging Engineer to join our team and lead the development of advanced packaging solutions for PINC’s integrated photonic products.

This role is ideal for a technically rigorous, hands-on, and creative packaging engineer with deep expertise in photonic integrated circuit packaging, optical coupling, mechanical design, electrical/RF interconnects, thermal management, and reliability. You will lead the development of packaging architectures and scalable assembly processes that enable exceptional device performance, manufacturability, and customer deployment, while collaborating with external manufacturing partners to support PINC's product roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop advanced photonic packaging solutions for PINC’s photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
• Develop package-level mechanical, optical, electrical, RF, and thermal solutions, including precision fiber attachment, chip carriers, submounts, TEC integration, wire bonding, flip-chip assembly, bonding, curing, and high-speed interconnects.
• Develop and optimize photonic packaging processes, including precision alignment, bonding, fiber attach, electrical interconnects, package sealing, inspection, metrology, and quality control.
• Collaborate with photonic design and test teams to co-optimize PIC layouts, package interfaces, manufacturability, performance, and yield.
• Perform DFM/DFA, tolerance analysis, yield optimization, and root-cause analysis to improve package performance, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Develop and execute reliability qualification plans, including environmental, mechanical, optical, and long-term lifetime testing.
• Work with external packaging vendors, contract manufacturers, and suppliers to qualify materials, assembly processes, and scalable manufacturing solutions.
• Design custom tooling, fixtures, and assembly processes to improve repeatability, throughput, and manufacturing efficiency.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Applied Physics, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of industry experience in photonic packaging, optoelectronic packaging, optical module development, advanced semiconductor packaging, or a closely related field.
• Hands-on experience packaging photonic integrated circuits, lasers, modulators, detectors, and fiber-coupled optical systems.
• Strong understanding of optical alignment, fiber attach, coupling loss budgets, polarization management, mechanical tolerancing, and package-level optical stability.
• Experience with precision assembly processes such as active alignment, passive alignment, bonding, soldering, wire bonding, die attach, fiber array attach, and optical inspection.
• Experience designing mechanical components, submounts, fixtures, and packaging assemblies using CAD tools such as SolidWorks or equivalent.
• Familiarity with electrical and RF packaging.
• Understanding of thermal management for photonic and optoelectronic devices.
• Demonstrated ability to perform root-cause analysis using optical, mechanical, electrical, thermal, and process data.
• Experience developing packaging processes from early prototypes through repeatable engineering builds.
• Experience developing packaging processes with external vendors and contract manufacturers
• Strong problem-solving skills and a demonstrated ability to lead technical development in a fast-paced R&D or product development environment.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate across photonic design, fabrication, test, systems, operations, vendors, and leadership teams.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• 2+ years of experience in startup or early-stage R&D environments with rapid iteration cycles.
• Experience working with thin-film lithium niobate or other advanced photonic platforms.
• Experience with high-speed or RF photonic packaging
• Experience using simulation tools such as COMSOL, Ansys, HFSS, CST, Zemax, Lumerical, SolidWorks Simulation, or equivalent tools for mechanical, thermal, optical, or RF analysis.
• Experience with reliability standards or test methodologies such as Telcordia, and internally developed photonic qualification plans.
• Experience with hermetic packaging, laser welding, or controlled-atmosphere packages.
• Experience with optical and optoelectronic test equipment such as tunable lasers, optical spectrum analyzers, power meters, polarization controllers, VNAs, oscilloscopes, source measurement units, IR cameras, thermal controllers, and automated alignment stages.
• Experience with statistical process control, design of experiments, failure mode and effects analysis, process capability analysis, or yield improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to build new technical capabilities from the ground up, including lab infrastructure, process flows, supplier networks, and technical documentation.
• Exceptional opportunities for professional growth and learning
• Stock option plan
• Retirement plan with company match
• Paid time off (Vacation, sick & public holidays)
• Life insurance
• Short term and long term disability
• Company-sponsored team outings

Our office is located in the heart of Pasadena, a world-class hub for science, technology, and entrepreneurship, with close ties to Caltech and Southern California’s broader innovation community, and access to vibrant neighborhoods, culture, dining, and outdoor activities, all within minutes of Los Angeles.