--- title: 'Senior Mechanical Engineer at nEye.ai' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-neye-ai-santa-clara-xk1zjs81pyr2' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Senior Mechanical Engineer at nEye.ai - **Company:** nEye.ai - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA - **Compensation:** $140k–$200k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-07-27 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/neye-systems-inc./70865b59-cfb7-4395-a6ee-746b73e87496 ## Job description About Us: nEye.ai, a well-funded optical switch startup, is poised to revolutionize the future of data centers. nEye’s MEMS-based silicon photonics optical circuit switches (OCS) eliminate critical bottlenecks in AI processing by enabling direct optical connections among thousands of GPUs and memory units. The company's SuperSwitch is an ultra-low power consumption, high radix, compact chip-scale design, offering hyperscale data centers enhanced performance, efficiency, and scalability. Job Overview: We're looking for a hands-on Senior Mechanical Engineer to help design and develop the mechanical systems behind our optical switching platform. You'll work closely with our Mechanical Engineering Manager and cross-functional teams across photonics, electrical engineering, packaging, manufacturing, and operations to develop precision mechanical assemblies that enable world-class optical performance. This is an ideal opportunity for an engineer who enjoys solving difficult multidisciplinary engineering problems, wants significant ownership over product design, and is interested in growing into future technical leadership, while preferring to remain deeply involved in hands-on engineering today. ## Key Responsibilities Mechanical Design - Design precision mechanical components and assemblies supporting silicon photonic devices - Develop mechanical packaging, modules,and enclosures, including mounting structures and fiber management solutions for high-performance optical systems - Design thermal management solutions for optimized system performance - Manufacturable CAD models, drawings, tolerances, and assembly documentation - Drive mechanical designs from concept through prototype, validation, and production Analysis & Simulation - Perform structural, thermal, and vibration simulations using FEA tools - Analyze stress, strain, thermal performance, and reliability of assemblies - Optimize designs for manufacturability, robustness, and long-term reliability - Support design tradeoff studies through simulation and experimentation Prototype Development - Build, assemble, and evaluate engineering prototypes - Work closely with technicians and manufacturing partners to debug mechanical issues - Conduct root cause analysis on prototype and field failures - Iterate rapidly based on test data and engineering feedback Manufacturing Support - Collaborate with vendors on precision machined, molded, and sheet metal fabricated parts - Review first articles and manufacturing documentation - Support engineering change orders (ECOs) - Help transition designs from prototype into production Required Experience - BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering or related discipline - 5+ years of mechanical design experience developing complex hardware products - Deep proficiency designing precision opto-mechanical assemblies - Expert proficiency with 3D CAD (SolidWorks, Creo, NX, Inventor, or similar) - Experience performing structural and thermal analysis using FEA tools (ANSYS, COMSOL, SolidWorks Simulation, etc.) - Strong understanding of GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis - Familiarity with manufacturing processes including: - Precision machining - Sheet Metal - Molding, including injection, vacuum forming and MIM - Extrusions - Additive manufacturing - Experience working through prototype builds and design iterations - Designing to Telcordia or similar environmental qualification standards - Excellent communication and collaboration skills ## Preferred Skills - Experience developing products within: - Silicon photonics - Optical networking - Semiconductor equipment - ## MEMS - Optical packaging - Telecom hardware - High-performance computing - AI infrastructure - Familiarity with thermal management of electronics - Fiber routing and management. - ## Experience designing for shock and vibration requirements - Knowledge of adhesives, optical alignment fixtures, or precision mechanical mounting - ## Experience supporting design transfer into manufacturing - Familiarity with Telcordia or similar environmental qualification standards - Exposure to rapid simulation workflows or AI-assisted engineering tools is a plus nEye is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ## About nEye.ai ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: nEye.ai develops ultra-low-power MEMS-based silicon photonic optical circuit switches (OCS) that eliminate connectivity bottlenecks in AI data centers, enabling direct optical links among thousands of GPUs. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C funding stage) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States - **Founded**: 2020 - **Founders**: Ashish Vengsarkar (CEO), Ming Wu (Chief Scientist & Co-Founder), Tae Joon Seok (CTO & Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Semiconductor manufacturing (silicon photonics) / AI data center infrastructure - **Target customers**: Hyperscale data centers, cloud providers, AI/ML infrastructure operators (B2B, Enterprise) - **Mission**: To transform data center networks through innovative optical circuit switching technology, solving the most challenging problems in AI infrastructure. ## Products & Services - **[SuperSwitch](https://www.neye.ai)**: A chip-scale, high-radix optical circuit switch leveraging MEMS-based silicon photonics. It enables direct optical connections among GPUs and memory units, dramatically reducing power consumption and latency compared to electrical switches. Type: Hardware (silicon photonic switch). ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$152.5M** across four rounds (Series A, B, C, and a corporate round) as of April 2026 - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Sutter Hill Ventures (led Series C, $80M, April 2026), CapitalG (led Series B, $58M, May 2025), TEDA (led Series A, $14.5M, September 2023) - **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **+164.7% YoY** to 36 employees; 12 active job postings (up 300% YoY); filed 12 patents in photonics, fiber optics, and optical devices; key hires from Google, AWS, Ayar Labs, and Intel. ## Competitive Advantages - **MEMS + Silicon Photonics Integration**: Combines micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) with silicon photonics on a single chip, enabling ultra-low power, high-radix switching in a compact form factor. - **Founding Team Depth**: Led by industry veterans with decades of experience at Bell Labs, UC Berkeley, Google, and successful optical startups (Photuris, Nistica). Chief Scientist Ming C. Wu is a renowned professor at UC Berkeley. - **Patented Technology**: 12 granted/pending patents covering lidar, photonic switch arrays, and optical devices. - **Hyperscaler Relevance**: Directly addresses the critical bottleneck in AI cluster networking, a problem actively being tackled by major cloud providers. ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling Engineering & Operations**: Heavily hiring across MEMS design, photonics, silicon photonics layout, test systems, and lab operations to accelerate product development and deployment. - **Hyperscale Deployment**: Targeting volume production and integration into the world’s largest AI data centers, leveraging team members’ prior experience at Google and AWS. - **Product Maturation**: Moving from prototype to commercial-grade SuperSwitch, with emphasis on reliability, yield, and cost efficiency. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-Driven**: Tackle one of the hardest problems in AI infrastructure – optical connectivity at scale. - **On-Site Culture**: Roles are based in Santa Clara, CA (with an additional Berkeley office), fostering close collaboration among a tight-knit, highly technical team. - **Impact & Ownership**: Small team (~36 people) means engineers have broad responsibility and direct influence on product direction. - **Veteran Leadership**: Work alongside former Google, Bell Labs, and successful startup leaders who have raised over $100M and achieved multiple exits. - **Growth Trajectory**: Rapid headcount growth and significant venture backing signal a company in an aggressive scaling phase, offering career advancement opportunities. ## Sources 1. [LinkedIn – nEye Systems Company Page](https://linkedin.com/company/neye-systems) 2. [CB Insights – nEye Systems Profile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/neye-systems) 3. [nEye.ai About Us](https://www.neye.ai/about-us) 4. [nEye.ai Join Us / Careers](https://www.neye.ai/join-us) 5. [Lever Jobs – nEye Systems Openings](https://jobs.lever.co/neye-systems-inc) ## Other roles at nEye.ai - [Senior Silicon Photonics Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-silicon-photonics-designer-neye-ai-santa-clara-eqqy2cje2bz7) — Santa Clara, CA - [Photonics Test Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/photonics-test-technician-neye-ai-santa-clara-5w5004d6mgd3) — Santa Clara, CA - [Principal Systems Packaging & Assembly Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-systems-packaging-assembly-engineer-neye-ai-santa-clara-mbmxte9kq10c) — Santa Clara, CA - [Principal Packaging Engineer, Optical Interfaces](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-packaging-engineer-optical-interfaces-neye-ai-santa-clara-r6c27ht76z0w) — Santa Clara, CA - [Principal Wafer Bonding Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-wafer-bonding-integration-engineer-neye-ai-santa-clara-7q9fv5rjjgcs) — Santa Clara, CA - [Senior Foundry Integration Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-foundry-integration-engineer-neye-ai-santa-clara-6s3mws7xah38) — Santa Clara, CA - [Purchasing Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/purchasing-specialist-neye-ai-santa-clara-d7cs13xv9w7a) — Santa Clara, CA - [Lab Operations, Facilities and Equipment Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/lab-operations-facilities-and-equipment-manager-neye-ai-santa-clara-and-1qv3ypwcxjcm) — Santa Clara and Emeryville, CA - [Director of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-finance-neye-ai-santa-clara-xpx7epw3tzrn) — Santa Clara, CA - [Photonics Lab Operator](https://feeny.ai/job/photonics-lab-operator-neye-ai-santa-clara-naj10gc81s1g) — Santa Clara, CA