Intern, Photonic Device Design
San Jose, CAInternship$50–60/hrPosted 2 days agoStill listed 1 day ago
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Job overview
The Photonic Device Design Intern will use device physics to advance the bandwidth density, energy efficiency, and manufacturability of Ayar Labs’ co-packaged optics platform. The intern will take designs from simulation to silicon, use hardware results to refine models, and develop improved devices for a future submission. The position runs from May to August 2027 and is based on-site in San Jose.
Skills & qualifications
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Full job description
Position: Intern, Photonic Device Design Location: San Jose, CA
Job Id: 763
of Openings: 0
Intern, Photonic Device Design Term: May to August 2027
Please note:
- Position location is on-site in San Jose Office
- There is no immigration (except F1) or relocation support for this position
- Posting expires upon application threshold
Position Description
Ayar Labs, the global leader in optical I/O chiplets, is harnessing silicon photonics to revolutionize the scaling of AI compute hardware. Ayar Labs is shattering AI data bottlenecks by moving data at the speed of light. As pioneers of co-packaged optics (CPO), we are using light instead of electricity to move data faster, further, and with a fraction of the energy needed to fuel the explosive growth of AI models.
Backed by industry giants like NVIDIA, AMD and Intel and manufactured in partnership with the world’s leading semiconductor ecosystem, Ayar Labs’ co-packaged optics solution is key to unleashing next-generation AI scale-up architectures.
You will utilize your knowledge of device physics (couplers, gratings, micro-rings, etc) to push the bandwidth density, energy efficiency, and manufacturability of our co-packaged optics platform. You’ll take designs from simulation to silicon on a leading-edge process, and leverage our rich pipeline of hardware to refine our models and build better devices in the next submission.
Intern Skillset Needed
- Solid understanding of photonic device physics: waveguides, couplers, gratings, micro-ring resonators
- Experience with simulation tools for passive optical devices (e.g., FDTD, mode solvers)
- Python skills; experience writing structured code in a team environment
- Ability to connect simulation to measurement - design, characterize, and iterate on device performance
- Familiarity with optical transceiver principles and co-packaged optics architectures
- Demonstrated use of AI tools to achieve meaningful productivity gains in design or analysis workflows - e.g., device optimization, AI-assisted code development
Education Requirements
- Candidate should be actively pursuing a Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering or other Engineering with Photonics specialization
Pay Range: $50 - 60/hourly, depending on education level
NOTE TO RECRUITERS: Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don’t send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.
Ayar Labs is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and is strongly committed to all policies which will afford equal opportunity employment to all qualified persons without regard to age, sex, national origin, race, color, ethnicity, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. It is the policy of Ayar Labs to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. Veterans are more than welcome and encouraged to apply.
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How this job compares
Set against the 7,034 open Engineering jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 10, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$50–60/hr
- California median$33–41/hr104 hourly ranges
- US median$27–35/hr769 hourly ranges
This range's midpoint, $55/hr, is 47% above the California median midpoint ($38/hr) — in the middle half of Engineering hourly ranges in California.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 910 open Engineering jobs in California and 7,034 across the US. 3% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Hiring the most in California
- Northrop Grumman60 open
- General Atomics33 open
- Accenture25 open
- Experience
- Engineering postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years of experience at the median; the middle half ask for 3 to 9 years (4,820 postings).
- Education
- 3,567 of the 7,034 open Engineering jobs (51%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 10, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
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