Principal Photonics IC Design Engineer

NVIDIA's Mixed-Signal Design (MSD) Photonics team is building the next generation of co-packaged optical interconnects to power the world's most advanced AI supercomputers. We are looking for a Principal Photonics IC Design Engineer to serve as the technical lead owning our photonics integrated circuit (PIC) product , from architecture definition through production tapeout and silicon validation.

Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end PIC product delivery: architecture, design, layout, DRC/LVS verification, tapeout, and post-silicon validation on advanced silicon photonics platforms
• Lead cross-functional execution across photonic device, analog/mixed-signal, packaging, and systems teams
• Drive tapeout schedules, define design milestones, and resolve critical path issues across multiple concurrent PIC programs
• Architect optical transceiver PICs integrating modulators, photodetectors, wavelength multiplexing, waveguides, and optical couplers for high-speed and/or DWDM applications
• Define and improve PIC design methodology, automation (e.g., scripted DRC, parameterized cells), and verification flows in Cadence and related EDA tools
• Mentor and technically guide a team of photonics designers; set technical direction for the photonics PIC roadmap

Requirements:

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or a closely related field with emphasis on integrated photonics, silicon photonics, or photonic device physics (or equivalent experience)
• 8+ years of industry experience in photonics IC design, with demonstrated progression into technical leadership roles
• Deep hands-on expertise with Cadence design environment (Virtuoso, PCell development, SKILL scripting) for photonic IC layout and simulation
• Proven track record of production tapeouts , you have personally driven PICs from design through GDS signoff on a foundry silicon photonics process
• Strong understanding of photonic device physics: waveguides, passive/active components, ring/MZI modulators, photodetectors, optical couplers
• Demonstrated technical leadership: setting project scope, making architecture tradeoffs, driving cross-team alignment, and delivering on schedule

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with high-speed (>50 Gbaud) optical modulator or receiver PIC design for datacom/telecom applications
• Experience with DWDM PIC architectures (MUX/DEMUX, multi-channel transceivers, wavelength tuning)
• Familiarity with co-packaged optics (CPO) system requirements and advance packaging integration
• Experience with photonic circuit simulation and CAD tools (Ansys Lumerical, ZeMax, Cadence, MATLAB, Python and Verilog-A) and electromagnetic solvers (FDTD, FDE, EME)
• Track record of publications and/or patents in silicon photonics