Silicon Photonics Design Engineer
Nokia
Design
United States
Posted on Dec 6, 2025
Are you a passionate Silicon Photonics Design Engineer eager to contribute to groundbreaking research and development? Join our team and play a key role in designing and developing cutting-edge silicon photonics integrated circuits. You'll lead the entire development process, from design and fabrication to testing and analysis, for complex photonic devices and systems-on-chip. Collaborate with experienced designers on innovative projects and large-scale silicon photonics circuits. Apply now and be part of a team pushing the boundaries of photonic technology!
Advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.
Nokia is a global leader in connectivity for the AI era. With expertise across fixed, mobile and transport networks, powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we’re advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.
About the Business Group
A robust digital backbone is the unsung hero of modern life, underpinning everything from daily interactions to cloud computing and critical infrastructure. The Network Infrastructure team is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what's possible in networking, tackling the toughest challenges and delivering innovative solutions.
We deliver trusted, purpose-built IP, optical, fixed, and data center solutions that power the internet, drive the global economy, and support the mission-critical industries that keep the world running.
Our recruitment process
We act inclusively and respect the uniqueness of people. Our employment decisions are made regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to a culture of inclusion built upon our core value of respect.
If you’re interested in this role but don’t meet every listed requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich our teams, and you may be just the right candidate for this or another opportunity.
The length of the recruitment process may vary depending on the specific role's requirements. We strive to ensure a smooth and inclusive experience for all candidates. Discover more about the recruitment process at Nokia.
Some of our benefits in US:
- Corporate Retirement Savings Plan
- Health and dental benefits
- Short-term disability, and long-term disability
- Life insurance, and AD&D – Company paid 2x base pay
- Optional or Supplemental life and AD&D insurance (Employee/Spouse/Child)
- Paid time off for holidays and Vacation
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan
- Tuition Assistance Plan
- Adoption assistance
- Employee Assistance Program/Work Life Resource Program
The above benefits exclude students.
Disclaimer for US/Canada
Nokia Maintains broad annual base salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience and market conditions, and with consideration to internal peer equity. Check the salary ranges in the job info section for this role.
All North America job posts will post for a minimum of 7 calendar days and up to 180 days or until candidate/s identified.
Join Nokia's Optical Networks business group and be part of a team shaping the future of networking! We develop cutting-edge IP, optical, and network automation technologies and services for communication service providers, web-scale companies, and enterprises. Our comprehensive WAN solutions empower customers to build highly automated, secure, and high-performance networks connecting people and devices across various access methods to edge and central clouds, the internet, and data centers. This is your chance to contribute to innovative solutions at a massive scale.
You have:
- MS or Ph.D. graduate in integrated optics silicon photonics, electrical engineering, or applied physics.
- 2+ years of industry experience working in silicon photonics, integrated optics or relevant fields.
- Possess extensive technical expertise in silicon photonics device design (including device performance characterization and validation).
- Lab experience in optical engineering test, fiber-waveguide coupling, and design verification testing.
- Experience in RF design, test and characterization of photonic devices, using devices such VNAs, spectrum analyzers, etc.
- Solid programming skills in Python or C/C++.
- General good understanding of general concepts in physics, especially in optics or electromagnetics.
It would be nice if you had:
- Previous experience as Nokia intern or co-op, proficiency with optics design tools, such as Lumerical.
- Experience with designing or characterizing silicon photonic or other integrated optical/optoelectronic devices or circuits. Strong understanding of general concepts in fiber optics and integrated optics. Experience in photonic integrated circuit design, modeling and layout.
- Solid numerical and physics-related programming skills. Experience with high-frequency design and modeling.
- Lead or support the design of active and passive photonic devices and/or complex photonic integrated circuits and systems.
- Develop new design approaches and innovate on both device-level design and system-level optimization.
- Interact with fab partners.
- Contribute to test development and lead the test data analysis of your devices to correlate design with measurements.
- Collaborate with all other functional teams in the organization to deliver co-designed and co-optimized photonics systems.