Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer, RFIC Engineering

SpaceX

Confirmed live today Trusted

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: Palo Alto, CARedmond, WA
Salary: $175,000–$280,000 / yr
Posted: 12 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live today
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $195k

This role $228k

$135k $296k

below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 79% of similar roles. Most pay $162,000–$227,500 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $228k versus about $195k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft with the mission of enabling humans to become a multi-planetary species. It operates the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship launch vehicles, as well as the Starlink satellite internet constellation.

SpaceX currently has 851 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $130,000–$165,000 across 590 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Silicon Photonics Design Engineer, RFIC Engineering

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The Sr. Silicon Photonics Design Engineer (RFIC Engineering) joins a cross-disciplinary team to develop next-generation photonic integrated circuits for space and ground infrastructures. This role involves designing, analyzing, and simulating optical building blocks like MZM, Microring modulators, Ge Photo diodes, dWDM filters, waveguides, couplers, dividers, and polarization management circuitry. Key responsibilities include deriving specifications for Photonics IC systems, modeling package optical interfaces, performing IC floor planning and layout, and characterizing high-speed optical link solutions. The engineer will utilize simulation tools including Lumerical, COMSOL, and HFSS, while also employing Spectre and ADS for electrical circuit design. The work focuses on high-speed SerDes links with data rates exceeding 100Gbps, supporting wideband circuit designs and advanced co-package optics solutions to expand the performance of the Starlink network.

Skills

Silicon Photonics PIC RFIC Lumerical COMSOL HFSS Spectre ADS SerDes PAM4 NRZ MZM Microring Modulators InGaAs InP CTLE Spectrum Analyzers Vector Signal Analyzers High Speed Oscilloscopes BERT Floor Planning

What you'll do

Design, analyze, and simulate optical building blocks like modulators, photodiodes, and waveguides for silicon photonics and InGaAs/InP platforms.
Derive technical specifications for Photonics IC systems and circuits.
Design and model package optical interfaces, including edge couplers and grating couplers.
Perform IC floor planning and layout for integrated circuits.
Evaluate, characterize, and measure electrical and optical building blocks of high-speed optical link solutions.
Assist in the development of automated test lab equipment for measurements.
Work with manufacturing engineers on production testing and qualification of PIC circuits and systems.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science.
5+ years of photonics or electro-optical integrated circuit design experience.
Experience using simulation tools such as Lumerical, COMSOL, and HFSS.
Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestones.
U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or eligible for Department of State authorization.
Master's degree or PhD in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or applied physics (preferred).
Experience using electrical simulation tools such as Spectre or ADS (preferred).
Experience with wideband circuit designs for high-speed SerDes links exceeding 100Gbps (preferred).