Co-packaged Optics Engineer

Co-packaged Optics Engineer:

This comprehensive Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Engineer job description outlines a pivotal role bridging hardware, ASIC, and optical design. It is highly optimized for talent acquisition in high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

About the Role

As a Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) Engineer, you will develop and validate next-generation optical interconnects for artificial intelligence and hyperscale data center platforms. Working closely with hardware, photonic, and packaging teams, you will design, simulate, and transition dense optical engines from R&D to high-volume manufacturing.

key Responsibilities

• CPO Architecture & Co-Design: Collaborate with system architects to design multi-chiplet heterogeneous integration packages, tightly coupling Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) with high-speed ASICs (e.g., GPUs/switches) on a shared silicon substrate.
• Optical Simulation & Packaging: Model and evaluate optical coupling structures (grating/edge couplers, lenses, fiber arrays) to minimize optical loss, improve coupling efficiency, and define alignment tolerances.
• Process Development: Develop package-level assembly processes—including both passive and active fiber-to-chip alignment strategies, hybrid bonding, and thermal management.
• Validation & Testing: Execute electro-optical characterization (EO, OE, OO) measuring bandwidth, BER (Bit Error Rate), and eye diagrams. Define accelerated testing plans for reliability and qualification (Telcordia, JEDEC).
• Supply Chain Collaboration: Engage with foundries, OSATs, and CMs to drive Design for Manufacturing (DfM) guidelines and scale prototypes into High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM).

Qualifications & Requirements

• Education: Ph.D. or Master's degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience: 3–5+ years of hands-on industry experience in silicon photonics and advanced 2.5D/3D packaging platforms (e.g., CoWoS, EMIB).
• Simulation Skills: Proficiency with industry-standard optical and electro-magnetic solvers (e.g., Lumerical, Ansys, Zemax, Synopsys).
• Testing & Lab Proficiency: Hands-on experience with optical test and metrology equipment, probe stations, and test automation (Python/LabVIEW).
• Domain Knowledge: Strong grasp of optical loss mechanisms, high-speed SerDes, failure modes (FMEA), and reliability lifetime modeling.