Senior Silicon Photonics Engineer (PIC Design)

About Rain Tree Photonics

At Rain Tree Photonics, we are building next-generation optical engines for co-packaged optics (CPO) and near-packaged optics (NPO) to break the bandwidth and power bottlenecks in AI infrastructure.

Our silicon photonic ICs power 200G/lane and beyond interconnects, enabling scalable, energy-efficient connectivity for AI data centers.

Role Overview

You will design high-speed silicon photonic integrated circuits operating at the limits of bandwidth and integration, and take them from concept → tapeout → silicon validation.

This role is suitable for strong PhD graduates through early-career engineers (~0–5 years experience) who want to work on real, production-bound systems, not just simulations.

Roles & Responsibilities

• • Design and optimize silicon photonic devices and circuits, including:

  o   High-speed modulators (MZI, ring, advanced structures)

  o   Photodetectors and receiver building blocks

  o   Passive components (couplers, filters, routing)

  • Perform multi-domain simulations (EM, circuit, thermal) to meet targets in:

  o   Bandwidth (200G/lane+)

  o   Insertion loss, extinction ratio, efficiency

• Implement PIC layouts (GDS) using foundry PDKs and support tapeouts
• Co-design with electronics and packaging teams for CPO/NPO systems:
• o   RF effects, parasitics, signal integrity, and thermal constraints
• • Support silicon bring-up and characterization:

  o   Correlate measurement vs simulation

  o   Drive design iterations and improvements

  • Contribute to design libraries, modeling, and methodology development

Requirements

• Education

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field (silicon photonics or closely related area)

• Experience

• 0–5 years of relevant experience (including fresh PhD graduates)

• Technical Skills
• Experience in design and simulation of silicon photonic devices or PICs
• Strong understanding of guided-wave optics and device physics
• Familiarity with tools such as Lumerical, COMSOL, or equivalent
• Implementation Skills
• Exposure to PIC layout and tapeout flows (PDK, DRC/LVS)
• System Awareness
• Basic understanding of optical communication systems and/or RF effects

• Nice to Have
• Experience with high-speed devices (>100 GHz bandwidth or equivalent)
• Exposure to CPO/NPO or optical transceiver architectures
• Familiarity with SiPh + III-V integration
• Experience with inverse design / adjoint methods (e.g., Meep)

Why Join Us

• Work on real products at 200G/lane+, not just research prototypes
• Direct impact on AI infrastructure and hyperscale systems
• Fast iteration cycles from design → silicon → system
• High ownership early in your career
• Comprehensive benefits package including health insurance
• Collaborative environment with world-class engineering and R&D teams