Photonics Design Engineer
Great Sky
Photonics Design Engineer
Great Sky
Brain-inspired neuromorphic hardware with wafer-scale networks
Great Sky is a technology startup based with a mission to rebuild AI from first principles. We are pursuing neuroscience-inspired hardware and algorithms that overcome the greatest challenges in scaling AI systems.
We are seeking a highly motivated PIC Design Engineer to design the detector-integrated photonic networks central to our cryogenic technology platform.
You will own the design of our active and passive photonic components and circuits, from simulation and layout through tapeout at major semiconductor foundries. You will also work with foundry process teams to make sure the designs are manufacturable.
This is a high-ownership position with substantial influence on the pace and direction of our hardware development.
Design, simulate, and optimize passive photonic components on silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon platforms. Examples include waveguides, grating and edge couplers, splitters, mode converters, resonators, and optical I/O.
Design active components for cryogenic operation, including waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) and phase shifters or modulators.
Design and lay out detector-integrated photonic circuits that combine passive optical routing with integrated detectors and their electrical readout.
Prepare tapeouts for foundry multi-project wafer (MPW) and dedicated runs, including layout, verification, design reviews against foundry PDKs, and test structures to measure component performance and process variation.
Build and maintain our internal PDK, component libraries, and script-based layout and DRC flows (e.g., GDSFactory, KLayout), working with foundry process teams to keep them in line with process capabilities and design rules.
Work closely with test, packaging, and systems integration teams to compare measured cryogenic performance with simulation, speeding up our design-build-test-learn cycles.
Required:
BS, MS or PhD in physics, electrical engineering, optics, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience.
Strong proficiency in industry-standard electromagnetic simulation methods (FDTD/ EME) and softwares (e.g., Ansys Lumerical, Tidy3D).
Experience designing devices on silicon nitride and/or silicon photonics platforms, such as grating couplers, edge couplers, splitters, and waveguide transitions.
Solid understanding of photonic layout concepts, Design Rule Checking (DRC), and familiarity with standard layout tools (e.g., KLayout, Luceda, Cadence).
Experience developing or extending a PDK, including PCells, component libraries, design rules, or compact models.
Preferred:
Experience taping out photonic designs through a foundry or MPW program (e.g., imec, AIM Photonics, Ligentec).
Experience designing SNSPDs or other waveguide-integrated detectors, or active devices such as phase shifters and modulators.
Experience with multi-layer SiN platforms and interlayer couplers.
Hands-on optical and electro-optical characterization (e.g., fiber coupling, waveguide loss, grating coupler, and photodetector measurements).
Experience with fabricating devices on at least one of these platforms: silicon photonics, silicon nitride, and/or superconducting electronics.
Experience using AI tools, including agentic AI, to improve photonic designs and write layout code.
Meaningful equity ownership in an early-stage deep tech company
Employer-matched 401(k)
Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
Flexible PTO
Support for ongoing learning, conference attendance, and skill development
Our culture is onsite by default (we're founded by scientists who are used to working in the lab), with flexibility for hybrid arrangements. For the right person and role, we're open to filling roles remotely
Great Sky is building hardware for neuromorphic computing by tying together photonics, superconductors, and semiconductors to create brain-like networks on a chip. Its platform runs analog neural networks across wafer-scale networks on 300 mm wafers, with silicon LEDs and planar waveguides enabling fast optical communication between modules. The approach envisions interconnecting multiple wafer-scale networks to form multi-modular cognitive systems that mimic brain regions such as the thalamus, hippocampus, and neocortex. Unlike traditional chip firms, Great Sky focuses on scalable, brain-inspired architectures that aim to achieve very high synapse operation rates per second, potentially exceeding natural brain capabilities. The company’s goal is to provide high-speed, energy-efficient computing solutions for industries that require advanced neural network processing by building large, modular cognitive systems built from wafer-scale networks.
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