Photonics Design Engineer

Great Sky•Boulder, CO

1d•$150,000 - $190,000

About The Position

Great Sky is a technology startup pursuing neuroscience-inspired hardware and algorithms to address challenges in scaling AI systems. The company is seeking a PIC Design Engineer to design detector-integrated photonic networks for its cryogenic technology platform. The engineer will own the design of active and passive photonic components and circuits, from simulation and layout through tapeout at major semiconductor foundries, and work with foundry process teams to ensure manufacturability. This high-ownership role offers substantial influence on the pace and direction of hardware development. The role includes designing and optimizing passive components on silicon nitride and silicon platforms, developing active components for cryogenic operation, and laying out circuits that combine optical routing, integrated detectors, and electrical readout. The engineer will prepare foundry tapeouts, maintain internal PDKs and design flows, and collaborate with test, packaging, and systems integration teams to compare measured cryogenic performance with simulation.

Requirements

BS, MS, or PhD in physics, electrical engineering, optics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Strong proficiency in industry-standard electromagnetic simulation methods such as FDTD and EME, and software such as Ansys Lumerical or Tidy3D.
Experience designing devices on silicon nitride and/or silicon photonics platforms, such as grating couplers, edge couplers, splitters, and waveguide transitions.
Solid understanding of photonic layout concepts and Design Rule Checking (DRC), with familiarity with standard layout tools such as KLayout, Luceda, or Cadence.
Experience developing or extending a PDK, including PCells, component libraries, design rules, or compact models.

Nice To Haves

Experience taping out photonic designs through a foundry or MPW program, such as imec, AIM Photonics, or Ligentec.
Experience designing SNSPDs or other waveguide-integrated detectors, or active devices such as phase shifters and modulators.
Experience with multi-layer SiN platforms and interlayer couplers.
Hands-on optical and electro-optical characterization, such as fiber coupling, waveguide loss, grating coupler, and photodetector measurements.
Experience fabricating devices on silicon photonics, silicon nitride, and/or superconducting electronics platforms.
Experience using AI tools, including agentic AI, to improve photonic designs and write layout code.

Responsibilities

Design, simulate, and optimize passive photonic components on silicon nitride and silicon platforms, including waveguides, grating and edge couplers, splitters, mode converters, resonators, and optical I/O.
Design active components for cryogenic operation, including waveguide-integrated SNSPDs and phase shifters or modulators.
Design and lay out detector-integrated photonic circuits combining passive optical routing, integrated detectors, and electrical readout.
Prepare foundry MPW and dedicated-run tapeouts, including layout, verification, design reviews against foundry PDKs, and test structures for measuring component performance and process variation.
Build and maintain internal PDKs, component libraries, and script-based layout and DRC flows, working with foundry process teams to align them with process capabilities and design rules.
Work with test, packaging, and systems integration teams to compare measured cryogenic performance with simulations and accelerate design-build-test-learn cycles.