Silicon Photonics Engineer

PsiQuantum•Palo Alto, CA

7h•$115,000 - $164,000

About The Position

PsiQuantum's mission is to build the first useful quantum computers—machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems. Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries. Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry—including partners like GlobalFoundries—we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don’t feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure. In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale. PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies—including Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical—to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact. Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift—and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we have a clear path to make it real. Come join us.

Requirements

PhD or equivalent in Electrical Engineering or Physics.
5 years of relevant work or academic research experience in integrated photonics.
Strong computational and analytical skills applied to photonic device design and performance evaluation.
In-depth knowledge of photonic devices, including performance metrics and testing techniques.
Extensive experience with photonic design using commercial software platforms such as Lumerical simulation suite.
Photonic layout experience using tools such as IPKISS, gdsfactory, or equivalent.
Extensive experience with Python for scientific applications and data analysis.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical teams.

Responsibilities

Interacts with device, hardware, and system design teams to assist in overall development of photonic systems and devices.
Supports foundry tape outs with photonic device design, design of experiments, layout, design verification, PDK development, and software development.
Develops comprehensive documentation for tapeouts.
Provides multi-disciplinary support to component and systems teams by resolving technical issues associated with components, parts, or systems.
Applies quantitative analysis in determining root cause of highly technical problems and proposes, develops, and implements solutions for corrective action.