Semiconductor Laser Design Engineer

Ayosemi

Boston, US

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level semiconductor laser engineers with hands-on fabrication experience who thrive in early-stage startup environments.

Best fit for

Engineers with direct semiconductor laser fabrication experience seeking a foundational role in photonics.
— “has taped out or fabricated working semiconductor laser or SOA devices”
Candidates comfortable mentoring junior engineers while driving core technical development.
— “Mentor & guide junior photonics engineers and photonics test engineers”
Researchers who combine quantum structure design with practical device testing skills.
— “Experience designing multi-quantum well and/or quantum dot structures”

Things to consider

Early-stage startup context implies broader responsibilities beyond core technical work.
— “will be among the first employees of the company”
Requires simultaneous work across epitaxy design, testing, and system collaboration.
— “Work with systems, electronic, and AI teams to design prototype chips”

How to stand out

Showcase specific tape-out examples where you optimized laser performance metrics.
— “Design, tape out and test integrated lasers and SOAs”
Demonstrate cross-functional collaboration through past photonic-electronic integration projects.
— “Work with systems, electronic, and AI teams”

Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

optimizing III-V epitaxies
designing test structures
designing, taping out, and testing integrated lasers and SOAs
collaborating with systems, electronic, and AI teams
mentoring junior photonics engineers

Typical background

PhD or MS with 5+ years experienceexperience designing, taping out, or fabricating, and testing integrated semiconductor lasers, LEDs, and/or SOAs

Skills & requirements

Required

Semiconductor Laser DesignIii-v EpitaxyActive Device DesignSimulation ToolsPythonPhotonics

Preferred

Multi-quantum Well DesignPhotonic Integrated CircuitsAdvanced Packaging

Stack & domain

Iii-v EpitaxyActive Device DesignIntegrated LasersSoasCommercial Simulation ToolsPythonSemiconductorLaser DesignAI

About the role

Original posting from Ayosemi via Ashby

Ayo is a venture-backed early-stage startup that will radically re-define how humanity performs compute for AI. Our photonic processors will provide orders of magnitude improvement in speed and power efficiency in comparison to conventional digital compute platforms by taking advantage of the natural parallelism, speed and energy efficiency of light.
We are seeking a semiconductor laser engineer to serve as a core team member who will be among the first employees of the company. The engineer will drive the optimization of both active III-V epitaxy and active device design (on-chip lasers and SOAs). The ideal candidate has taped out or fabricated working semiconductor laser or SOA devices, has a deep understanding of the underlying physics, and has a desire to explore the limits of what can be built with current fabrication technologies. This will be a key role within the photonics team, requiring close collaboration with other team members and engineering functions.
Responsibilities:
Simulate/design III-V epitaxies optimized for our application
Design test structures for measurement of electronic and optical properties of fabricated epitaxial wafers
Design, tape out and test integrated lasers and SOAs
Work with systems, electronic, and AI teams to design prototype chips
Mentor & guide junior photonics engineers and photonics test engineers
Qualifications:
PhD or MS with 5+ years experience
Experience designing, taping out or fabricating, and testing integrated semiconductor lasers, LEDs and/or SOAs
Experience using commercial simulation tools (such as Ansys/Lumerical, Tidy3D, PhotonDesign or similar)
Proficiency with Python
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience designing multi-quantum well and/or quantum dot structures
Experience designing and laying out photonic integrated circuits
Experience probing/testing photonic integrated circuits
Experience with advanced packaging of photonic integrated circuits such as hybrid or flip-chip integration
Contact:
Mike Gould (mike@ayoelectronics.com)

Source: Ayosemi careers (Ashby)