01 — Engineering

PRINCIPAL
MICROWAVE
ENGINEER

Full-time Zurich, Switzerland
Apply for this role →
← All roles
About the role

Own the full RFIC design cycle — from mm-wave architecture to tapeout — for the high-frequency electronic subsystems driving our FM comb laser platform. Work directly with the PIC team on opto-RF co-design and lead the packaging strategy for our photonic modules. This is a senior individual-contributor role with full technical ownership at the hardware heart of Aylight.

Requirements
  • PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or related discipline; MSc with strong industrial track record considered
  • Minimum 5 years of IC design experience at 30 GHz and above, with demonstrated tapeouts at 100 GHz or above
  • Hands-on expertise in InP HBT, GaAs HBT/pHEMT, or SiGe BiCMOS process
  • Strong mm-wave circuit design: oscillators, tuned amplifiers, transmission-line matching, passive and active topologies
  • EM simulation (HFSS, Momentum, Sonnet) and RF/mm-wave circuit simulation (ADS, Virtuoso)
  • mm-wave on-wafer characterisation — VNA, spectrum analyser, phase noise measurement
  • Understanding of RF packaging at mm-wave frequencies: bond transitions, parasitic management, thermal constraints
Strong plus
  • High-speed electro-optic modulator (EAM/MZM) or photodetector design in III-V or silicon photonic platforms
  • Experience with InP monolithic PIC platforms and foundry PDKs
  • Experience with opto-RF co-packaging and electro-optic bandwidth limitations
  • Background in optical frequency combs, WDM systems, or coherent optical interconnects
  • Experience with heterogeneous or hybrid electronics–photonics integration
What we offer
  • Founding-team-adjacent role with direct impact on core hardware architecture
  • Competitive salary benchmarked to Zurich deep-tech and semiconductor industry standards, with meaningful equity participation
  • World-class lab infrastructure and collaboration with leading photonics research groups in Zurich
  • Small team, zero bureaucracy — full ownership of your domain from day one
  • Office in central Zurich — Europe's deep-tech capital
Apply — Principal Microwave Engineer

JOIN US