Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer

NVIDIA

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself over two decades. Our invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing. NVIDIA is a "learning machine" that constantly evolves by adapting to new opportunities that are hard to solve, that only we can tackle, and that matter to the world. This is our life's work, to amplify human creativity and intelligence. Make the choice and join us today!

Optical interconnect is becoming the backbone of AI-scale computing, and co-packaged optics is one of the hardest, highest-impact problems in that shift. We're looking for a senior engineer to join the team that owns silicon photonics design and modeling for our optical roadmap. This role lives at the electronic-photonic boundary — building the models and co-simulation flows that let photonic and high-speed electronic designs be verified together. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with circuit, system, and characterization engineers, and share in the team's collective ownership of a foundational capability.

What You'll Be Doing

Develop and maintain the electro-optic co-simulation flow, integrating Verilog-A compact models with circuit and link simulation so photonics and electronics can be verified in one environment.
Define silicon-photonics test structures and characterization plans, and extracting compact-model parameters from measured optical, electrical, electro-optic, RF, and thermal data.
Build and calibrate compact/behavioral models for silicon photonic components — ring modulators and resonators, Mach-Zehnder modulators, photodetectors, grating/edge couplers, waveguides, splitters, and thermo-optic phase shifters.
Correlate models against foundry and in-house characterization data (spectra, S-parameters, OMA/ER), contributing to the model accuracy and validation the team is collectively responsible for.
Partner closely with circuit/SerDes designers, system teams, and foundry contacts as the direct customers of the team's models.
Contribute to the shared component library the team maintains — versioning, documentation, QA, and release — taking detailed physics/EM models as source data and abstracting them into design-usable form.

What We Need To See

MS and/or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Photonics/Optical Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
Electronic-photonic co-simulation and Verilog-A compact modeling, integrating photonic models into a circuit design environment (Cadence ecosystem a plus).
5+ years of design experience in industry or applied R&D, spanning photonic and/or high-speed electronic design.
Proven track record in silicon photonics device modeling, compact modeling, or optical component design.
Photonic simulation tools: Lumerical (FDTD, MODE, INTERCONNECT, CHARGE) or comparable (Ansys, Synopsys OptoDesigner/RSoft).
Solid grasp of photonic device physics: resonator theory (CMT, Q, FSR, ER/OMA), carrier-based and thermo-optic modulation, waveguide loss and dispersion.
Experience building verification/testbench environments and correlating models to measurement.
Strong debugging and analytical skills, and a genuine desire to work as part of a close-knit team.

Ways To Stand Out From The Crowd

Foundry PDK flow experience, photonic layout/DRC awareness, optical VNA/LCA measurement background.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

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