Sr. Silicon Photonics Design Engineer (RFIC Engineering)
About The Position
SpaceX is seeking a motivated, proactive, and intellectually curious photonics design engineer to develop next-generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for deployment in space and ground infrastructure. The role works alongside cross-disciplinary systems, firmware, architecture, design, validation, and product engineering teams to help expand the performance and capabilities of the Starlink network. The engineer will design and evaluate optical and electrical building blocks and circuits for high-speed optical links, derive PIC system and circuit specifications, and support integration, measurement, and production qualification. The position includes photonic design across silicon photonics and InGaAs/InP platforms, package optical interface modeling, IC floor planning and layout, and collaboration with system architects, DSP, electro-optics, ASIC, and manufacturing engineers.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science.
- At least 5 years of photonics or electro-optical integrated circuit design experience.
- Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones.
Nice To Haves
- Master's degree or PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering with an emphasis on electro-optics IC design, or applied physics.
- Experience using electrical simulation tools such as Spectre and ADS.
- Knowledge of advanced packaging for a co-packaged optics (CPO) solution.
- Electrical circuit design skills and experience analyzing and simulating linear and nonlinear circuits such as high-bandwidth modulator drivers, TIAs, CTLEs, filters, low-noise amplifiers, and power amplifiers.
- Experience with wideband circuit designs supporting high-speed SerDes links above 100 Gbps and bandwidth exceeding tens of GHz.
- Familiarity with high-speed SerDes architecture, modulation schemes such as NRZ/PAM4, and link protocols.
- Familiarity with optical and radio test equipment such as spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers, vector signal generators, high-speed oscilloscopes, and BERTs.
- Experience characterizing EIC/PIC performance for high-speed optical SerDes.
Responsibilities
- Design, analyze, and simulate optical building blocks, including MZM and microring modulators, Ge photodiodes, dWDM filters, waveguides, couplers, dividers, and polarization-management circuitry across platforms such as silicon photonics and InGaAs/InP.
- Derive specifications for photonics IC systems and circuits.
- Design and model package optical interfaces, including edge couplers and grating couplers.
- Work with system architects, DSP, electro-optics, and ASIC engineers to partition functions between hardware and software.
- Perform IC floor planning and layout.
- Evaluate, characterize, and measure electrical and optical building blocks for high-speed optical link solutions.
- Assist in developing automated test lab equipment for laboratory measurements.
- Work with manufacturing engineers on production testing and qualification of PIC circuits and systems.
Benefits
- Potential eligibility for long-term incentives in the form of company stock or long-term cash awards.
- Potential discretionary bonuses.
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan allowing employees to purchase additional stock at a discount.
- Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage.
- 401(k) retirement plan.
- Short- and long-term disability insurance.
- Life insurance.
- Paid parental leave.
- Various other discounts and perks.
- May accrue 3 weeks of paid vacation.
- Eligible for 10 or more paid holidays per year.
- Paid sick leave pursuant to company policy.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
