Photonic Design & Fab Engineer

Acceler8Talent is proud to partner with a well-funded AI hardware startup in the Boulder area that has raised $30.7M in seed funding to develop a fundamentally new computing architecture combining superconducting electronics with integrated photonics. Emerging from research conducted within the NIST ecosystem, the company is rethinking how AI compute is built from first principles, using neuroscience-inspired approaches to overcome the scaling, efficiency, and communication limitations of conventional silicon-based systems.

The team is developing cryogenic photonic networks that integrate photonic integrated circuits, lasers, and superconducting photon detectors with novel computing hardware. Backed by significant venture funding and government-supported research programs, the company is entering an important phase of hardware development and team growth.

They are looking for a Photonics Fabrication and Design Engineer to develop the integrated photonic devices at the core of their technology platform. This is a highly hands-on, high-ownership role combining cleanroom fabrication with passive photonic design, giving you responsibility across the full design-build-test-learn cycle rather than limiting you to one narrow part of the development process.

What You’ll Do:
Own end-to-end prototype fabrication runs in a research cleanroom environment
Develop, execute, and optimize fabrication processes for integrated photonic and superconducting devices
Fabricate devices across silicon nitride photonics and superconducting platforms, including superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs)
Design, simulate, and optimize passive SiN photonic components including grating couplers, splitters, mode converters, edge couplers, and optical I/O structures
Translate experimental processes into repeatable standard operating procedures and stable Processes of Record
Contribute to the development and maintenance of internal Process Design Kits (PDKs), component libraries, and design rules
Work closely with photonics test, packaging, and systems integration teams to correlate device performance with fabrication data
Analyze fabrication results and use experimental feedback to drive process and device design improvements
Help accelerate rapid design-build-test-learn cycles across the photonics hardware platform

What You Bring:
B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics, Photonics, Materials Science, or a related technical field
Hands-on experience with microfabrication, nanofabrication, or semiconductor processing
Experience fabricating devices using silicon photonics, silicon nitride, superconducting electronics, or a related device platform
Strong understanding of passive photonic component design
Experience with electromagnetic simulation tools such as Ansys Lumerical, Tidy3D, or similar platforms
Understanding of photonic layout, Design Rule Checking, and tapeout concepts
Experience with layout tools such as KLayout, Luceda, Cadence, or similar platforms
Ability to independently own experimental fabrication work in a fast-moving R&D environment
Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate closely across design, test, packaging, and systems teams

Desired Experience:
Experience fabricating superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) or other superconducting devices
Experience with silicon nitride (SiN) photonics
Experience designing passive integrated photonic components such as couplers, splitters, waveguides, or mode converters
Experience with heterogeneous or hybrid integration techniques such as bump bonding or fusion bonding
Experience transferring fabrication processes to external fabs or working directly with commercial foundries
Experience developing repeatable fabrication processes, SOPs, or Processes of Record
Experience building or maintaining PDKs, component libraries, or fabrication design rules
Previous experience working in shared multi-user fabrication facilities such as university cleanrooms, national laboratories, or advanced commercial R&D centers

This is an opportunity to join a small, rapidly growing hardware team where you can have direct influence across device design, fabrication, process development, and integration, rather than owning only one isolated step in a mature production flow.
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