--- title: 'Senior Silicon Photonics Designer at nEye.ai' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-silicon-photonics-designer-neye-ai-santa-clara-eqqy2cje2bz7' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-15' --- # Senior Silicon Photonics Designer at nEye.ai - **Company:** nEye.ai - **Location:** Santa Clara, CA - **Compensation:** $170k–$240k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-09-02 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-15 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/neye-systems-inc./be854838-6773-4f21-8215-be03e2380947 ## Job description 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. Position Summary We are seeking a hands-on Senior Packaging Failure Analysis Engineer to lead root-cause investigation of complex failures across our silicon photonics, MEMS, optical packaging, and electronic assemblies. This role will have a particular focus on cross-sectioning bonded components and analyzing material interfaces, including adhesive/epoxy attach, fusion and eutectic bonding, solder interconnects, and hermetic packages. The ideal candidate combines a strong foundation in materials science and interfacial phenomena with deep practical experience in failure analysis, microscopy, analytical characterization, and sample preparation. You will own investigations from initial non-destructive analysis through destructive physical analysis, determine the appropriate characterization technique for each problem, translate findings into actionable root cause and corrective actions, and feed learnings back into product design, packaging, manufacturing, and supplier processes. Over time, this individual may also play a key role in building and expanding in-house failure analysis capabilities, including cross-sectioning/polishing, microscopy, SEM/EDS, and related analytical infrastructure. ## Key Responsibilities - Act as the Senior Engineer when collaborating with other nEye groups to optimize chip design for product system-level requirements - Driving specific device designs and collaborating on fabrication methodologies. - Designing photonic components and photonic integrated circuits to advance our optical switch technology. - Developing, overseeing, and performing photonic component and system-level testing. - Working cross-functionally with system and fabrication team members to develop improved optical switch capabilities. Required Skills & Qualifications - PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Applied Physics, Chemistry, or a related technical discipline. - 4-8+ years hands-on experience with Silicon Photonics in an industry setting - Strong understanding of microfabrication processes and related constraints on photonic component designs. - Strong understanding and proficient experience of photonic component simulation tools such as FDTD, EME, FEM, or FIT. - Strong proficiency in Python - Experience with photonic integrated circuit layout and photonics foundry tape-out. - Experience with designing and executing detailed photonic device experiments and characterization protocols. - Strong communication skills in collaboration, verbal presentation, and written reports. - Excellent interpersonal, communication (written and oral), and leadership skills. nEye.ai 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. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us. ## 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 - [MEMS Process Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mems-process-engineer-neye-ai-emeryville-db7tynfwsqzc) — Emeryville, CA - [Photonics Test Technician](https://feeny.ai/job/photonics-test-technician-neye-ai-santa-clara-5w5004d6mgd3) — Santa Clara, CA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-mechanical-engineer-neye-ai-santa-clara-xk1zjs81pyr2) — 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