Senior Photonics Engineer - Equity & PIC Tapeout Leader

Lyte AI Inc.; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Flexible vacation policy

Collaborative, fast-paced environment

Cutting-edge technologies with cross‑f

Cross-functional team exposure

Job summary

Lyte AI Inc. is seeking an experienced photonic design engineer to own the development of silicon and silicon nitride photonic components. You will design, simulate, and optimize devices such as couplers and interferometers, and drive tapeout-ready layouts under foundry rules.

You will contribute to architecture with performance models and trade studies across optical links and interfaces. The role involves building automated workflows in Python for simulations, DOE studies, and data analysis,

Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent industry experience in relevant field.
• 8+ years of industry experience (or Ph.D. with 5+).
• Hands-on experience designing silicon or silicon nitride photonic components with design ownership on multiple PIC tapeouts.
• Strong understanding of waveguide optics and fabrication-dependent performance.
• Proficiency with electromagnetic simulation methods and optical-circuit simulation tools.

Responsibilities

• Design photonic components and subcircuits (couplers, interferometers, phase shifters, switches, interfaces).
• Simulate and optimize performance across loss, bandwidth, polarization, footprint, power, and tolerance.
• Develop tapeout-ready layouts and verify against foundry rules; prepare design files for PIC layouts.
• Advance PDKs with cells, models, and documentation; update with new data.
• Automate workflows for simulation setup, sweeps, optimization, and data analysis.
• Co-design for optical and system integration with III–V sources and packaging teams.
• Partner with silicon team on test/DOE plans; interpret results to improve models and PDKs.
• Deliver complete design handoffs with specs, results, and interface requirements.

Skills

Photonic design

Waveguide physics

Python scripting

Design verification

Version control

Education

M.S./Ph.D. in EE/Physics/Optics or B.S. with experience

Tools

FDTD

Lumerical

Tidy3D

Cadence/Synopsys

LVS/DRC

Job description

Lyte AI Inc. is seeking an experienced photonic design engineer to own the development of silicon and silicon nitride photonic components. You will design, simulate, and optimize devices such as couplers and interferometers, and drive tapeout-ready layouts under foundry rules.

You will contribute to architecture with performance models and trade studies across optical links and interfaces. The role involves building automated workflows in Python for simulations, DOE studies, and data analysis,