PIC Design Engineer

Location: Vancouver, Canada (On-site)

Position Type: Full time

A well-funded deep-tech startup is developing advanced manufacturing technology for next-generation photonic systems. The company is creating innovative optical packaging and coupling solutions that improve the performance and scalability of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for applications including AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, quantum technologies, sensing, and optical communications.

As the company scales from R&D; to commercialisation, they are looking for a Photonics Engineer to develop optical simulation workflows, design photonic coupling solutions, and support the development of next-generation PIC technologies.

What You’ll Do

- Design and simulate optical coupling solutions for lasers, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and optical fibres.
- Develop and optimise PIC layouts using industry-standard layout tools and foundry PDKs.
- Build simulation workflows for photonic device design and optimisation.
- Collaborate with optical, packaging, manufacturing and software engineers to develop manufacturable products.
- Produce technical documentation including test plans, reports and design documentation.




- Present technical progress and support product development from concept through validation.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Physics, Photonics or a related discipline.
- 3+ years of experience designing photonic components, PICs or optical systems.
- Experience with silicon photonics, lasers, optical fibres and integrated photonic devices.
- Strong Python programming skills for automation and data analysis.
- Experience using electromagnetic simulation tools (FDTD, Beam Propagation, Ray Tracing or similar).
- Experience with GDSII layout tools (e.g. KLayout, L-Edit) and photonic foundry PDKs.
- Ability to produce clear technical documentation and work effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
- Strong communication and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience using optical test equipment such as lasers, optical power meters and spectrum analysers.
- Knowledge of photonic packaging, hybrid integration or optical assembly.
- Experience developing simulation or design automation workflows.
- Experience supporting the transition of new technologies from R&D; into commercial products.
- Previous experience within a startup, industrial R&D; or research environment.

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📌 PIC Designer (Vancouver)
🏢 Darwin Recruitment
📍 Vancouver