Design and simulate passive and active InP photonic integrated circuits at the frontier of electro-optic performance. You will push the boundaries of high-speed modulator design, bridge the gap between physics simulation and manufacturable hardware, and own the full loop from concept to tapeout to characterisation.

• PhD or equivalent in photonics, electrical engineering, or applied physics with a focus on integrated photonics or optoelectronics
• Hands-on photonic integrated circuit design (silicon photonics, InP)
• Experience designing electro-optic modulators (EAM or MZM) in III-V platforms
• Strong simulation skills: FDTD, EME, or equivalent photonic simulation tools (Lumerical, COMSOL, Tidy3D, or custom)
• Familiarity with foundry PDKs, DRC/LVS verification, and tapeout submission workflows
• AI-assisted design and development workflows — LLM-aided layout scripting, automated parameter sweeps, and agentic simulation pipelines that close the geometry-to-performance loop with minimal manual iteration
• Experimental characterisation of photonic devices — optical, electro-optic, and RF

• Opto-electronic co-design pushing the limits of modulator bandwidth
• Compact model development for circuit-level PIC simulation
• Knowledge of DWDM system requirements and datacenter optical interconnects
• InP foundry tapeout experience with major III-V MPW platforms
• Background in optical frequency combs and optical communication systems

• Competitive salary with meaningful early-stage equity participation (ESOP)
• Direct contribution to a world-class InP photonic platform at an ETH Zürich deep-tech spinoff
• Small team, zero bureaucracy — full ownership of your device domain from day one
• World-class lab infrastructure and compute resources in Zurich
• Office in central Zurich — Europe's deep-tech capital