Silicon Photonics Senior Designer

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Carlsbad (CA); On-site; USD 151,000 - 216,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an experienced Senior Silicon Photonics Designer to lead design, simulation, and characterization of silicon photonic devices for 100G/200G/400G platforms.

You will own waveguide modeling, device design, and validation across transmit/receive paths in a cutting-edge optics group. You will develop measurement plans, optimize modulators and photodetectors, and drive design analyses while collaborating with product and manufacturing teams to deliver scalable,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher with extensive silicon photonics design experience.
• Experience designing integrated photonics components and devices.
• Experience with optical measurement/characterization and data analysis.
• Experience with advanced waveguide modeling and optical coupling.

Responsibilities

• Design, model, and simulate silicon photonic devices and integrated components.
• Develop measurement and characterization plans to validate device performance.
• Design and optimize high-speed modulators and photodetectors.
• Perform design analyses and trade-off studies for improvements.
• Identify innovative solutions and solve complex problems.
• Collaborate across functions to gather insights and align on needs.
• Translate product requirements into design requirements and validate blocks.
• Analyze test results to determine root causes and implement fixes.
• Contribute to photonic IP and patent activity.

Skills

Silicon photonics design

Optical measurement

Data analysis

Waveguide modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree + 8 years experience

Master's degree + 6 years experience

PhD + 3 years experience

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/30/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

Meet the Team

The Common Hardware Group (CHG) creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms—like Silicon One—are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production—is within our team, we're able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Cisco's Optics Group designs & delivers the high-speed optical transceivers, and platforms that power Cisco's core data center networking solutions. We specialize in the design and integration of innovative IM/DD optics and silicon photonic platforms that enable customers to deploy industry-leading optical technologies within data center with unprecedented speed, capacity, and reliability. Come join us and take part in shaping COG's ground-breaking optical solutions by designing, developing, and testing some of the most advanced pluggable, and Co-packaged Optics (CPO) being developed in the industry.

You will work with Cisco's best-in-class Silicon Photonics platform team. Our team is responsible for driving the development and optimization of optical transceivers & modules (800G, 1.6T & beyond) that seamlessly integrate with Cisco's routing, switching, and datacenter platforms, enabling customers to build scalable, high-performance networks that support emerging technologies including AI/ML workloads, and next-generation data center architectures.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Silicon Photonics Designer to lead the design, simulation, and characterization of silicon photonic devices and integrated components for Cisco's next-generation optical platforms supporting 100G/200G/400G per Lambda solutions. You will own waveguide modeling, device design and analysis, and measurement/validation for key photonic building blocks—including high-speed modulators and photodetectors—across our transmit and receive paths.

Your Impact:

• Design, model, and simulate silicon photonic devices and integrated components, including advanced waveguide modeling and optical coupling design.
• Develop and execute measurement and characterization plans to validate photonic device performance against design targets.
• Design and optimize high-speed modulators and photodetectors for next-generation optical platforms.
• Perform design analysis and trade-off studies to drive device- and platform-level performance improvements.
• Solves complex problems and takes a broad perspective to identify innovative solutions.
• Establishes and maintains ongoing and collaborative cross-functional relationships to gather insights, align on business needs, and deliver value.
• Converts product requirements into design requirements and takes accountability for the design, test, and validation of multiple subsystems/blocks.
• Analyzes testing outcomes to determine root cause of highly technical problems and proposes, develops, and implements solutions for corrective action and future designs.
• Innovates photonic design of new products and solutions by looking at the broader Cisco portfolio and contributes to the team's intellectual property, including participation in the patent process.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's + 8 years of related experience, OR Master's + 6 years of related experience, OR PhD + 3 years of related experience. (Post-doctoral candidates with some industry/company experience will also be considered.)
• Experience in silicon photonics device design, including simulation and design of integrated photonic components.
• Demonstrated experience with optical measurement and characterization of photonic devices, and data analysis.
• Demonstrated experience with advanced waveguide modeling, design analysis, and optical coupling.

Preferred Qualifications

• Product-related experience—taking photonic devices or platforms from design through qualification and production.
• Familiarity with the patent process and a track record of contributing to intellectual property.
• Experience designing high-speed modulators and/or photodetectors.
• Experience with co-packaged optics (CPO) or pluggable optics architectures (e.g., 800G, 1.6T).
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to align engineering, product, and manufacturing partnersa.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts for varied audiences.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $151,300.00 to $216,200.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco
• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next
• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;
• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;
• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and
• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$171,600.00 - $281,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$151,300.00 - $250,900.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.