Silicon Photonics Senior Designer

About the Team

The Common Hardware Group (CHG) creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms—like Silicon One—are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production—is within our team, we're able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly.

Cisco's Optics Group designs and delivers high-speed optical transceivers and platforms that power Cisco's core data center networking solutions. We specialize in the design and integration of innovative IM/DD optics and silicon photonic platforms, enabling customers to deploy industry-leading optical technologies within data centers with unprecedented speed, capacity, and reliability. Join us to shape ground-breaking optical solutions by designing, developing, and testing some of the most advanced pluggable and Co-packaged Optics (CPO) in the industry. You will work with Cisco's best-in-class Silicon Photonics platform team, driving the development and optimization of optical transceivers and modules (800G, 1.6T, and beyond) that seamlessly integrate with Cisco's routing, switching, and data center platforms. This enables customers to build scalable, high-performance networks supporting emerging technologies including AI/ML workloads and next-generation data center architectures.

Responsibilities

• Design, model, and simulate silicon photonic devices and integrated components, including advanced waveguide modeling and optical coupling design.
• Develop and execute measurement and characterization plans to validate photonic device performance against design targets.
• Design and optimize high-speed modulators and photodetectors for next-generation optical platforms.
• Perform design analysis and trade-off studies to drive device- and platform-level performance improvements.
• Solve complex problems and take a broad perspective to identify innovative solutions.
• Establish and maintain ongoing and collaborative cross-functional relationships to gather insights, align on business needs, and deliver value.
• Convert product requirements into design requirements and take accountability for the design, test, and validation of multiple subsystems/blocks.
• Analyze testing outcomes to determine root cause of highly technical problems and propose, develop, and implement solutions for corrective action and future designs.
• Innovate photonic design of new products and solutions by looking at the broader Cisco portfolio and contribute to the team's intellectual property, including participation in the patent process.

Requirements

• Bachelor's + 8 years of related experience, OR Master's + 6 years of related experience, OR PhD + 3 years of related experience. (Post-doctoral candidates with some industry/company experience will also be considered.)
• Experience in silicon photonics device design, including simulation and design of integrated photonic components.
• Demonstrated experience with optical measurement and characterization of photonic devices, and data analysis.
• Demonstrated experience with advanced waveguide modeling, design analysis, and optical coupling.

Preferred Qualifications

• Product-related experience—taking photonic devices or platforms from design through qualification and production.
• Familiarity with the patent process and a track record of contributing to intellectual property.
• Experience designing high-speed modulators and/or photodetectors.
• Experience with co-packaged optics (CPO) or pluggable optics architectures (e.g., 800G, 1.6T).
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to align engineering, product, and manufacturing partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts for varied audiences.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era—and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across their entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $151,300.00 to $216,200.00 for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training.

Full salary ranges for specific locations:

• New York City Metro Area: $171,600.00 - $281,800.00
• Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $151,300.00 - $250,900.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution
• Paid parental leave
• Short- and long-term disability coverage
• Basic life insurance
• Eligibility for grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment
• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees
• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday
• Paid year-end holiday shutdown
• 4 paid days off for personal wellness
• Non-exempt employees receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period
• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program with no defined limit (subject to availability and business limitations)
• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours carried forward
• Additional paid time away for critical or emergency family issues
• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer
• Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco’s policies
• For sales roles, performance-based incentive pay split between quota and non-quota components