Staff Engineer, Silicon Photonics & Optical Systems

Summary:

Initiates the design, development, execution and implementation of technology research projects. Investigates the feasibility of applying scientific principles and concepts to potential inventions and products. Plans and executes applied research. Maintains substantial knowledge of state-of-the-art principles and theories, and may contribute to scientific literature and conferences. May participate in development of patent applications. May coordinate interdepartmental activities and research efforts.

Duties & Responsibilities:

About the Role

VIAVI is seeking an experienced Staff Engineer, Silicon Photonics & Optical Systems to join our CTO Innovation Center in Singapore. This role focuses on developing next-generation silicon photonics technologies, advanced optical components, and innovative test and measurement solutions supporting AI data centers, high-speed optical transport, coherent communications, and future telecommunications networks.

The successful candidate will help define the next generation of optical technologies while developing advanced validation methodologies for integrated photonic devices, optical modules, transceivers, and high-speed interconnects. Working across research, product engineering, and strategic technology initiatives, you will help expand VIAVI’s leadership in optical innovation while enabling our customers to confidently deploy increasingly complex optical networks.

This position offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of photonic device innovation, optical system design, advanced test automation, AI-assisted characterization, and future network architectures.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and evaluate next-generation silicon photonic devices, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), optical engines, and advanced optical interconnect technologies.
• Lead research and development activities in silicon photonics, coherent optics, co-packaged optics (CPO), linear pluggable optics (LPO), optical I/O, and emerging AI data center optical architectures.
• Develop advanced optical characterization methodologies for photonic components, integrated optical modules, coherent transceivers, lasers, modulators, detectors, optical switches, and passive photonic devices.
• Design innovative laboratory validation platforms and automated optical test solutions supporting both product development and manufacturing.
• Develop AI-assisted optical measurement techniques that improve characterization speed, accuracy, and predictive quality analysis.
• Support optical component qualification, reliability analysis, environmental stress testing, and production yield optimization.
• Partner with semiconductor foundries, optical component manufacturers, and strategic ecosystem partners to accelerate technology commercialization.
• Contribute to future technology roadmaps spanning telecommunications, AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, quantum networking, and emerging photonic computing platforms.
• Drive innovation through patents, technical publications, industry standards participation, and collaborative research programs.

Pre-Requisites / Skills / Experience Requirements:

Required Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, Materials Science, or a closely related discipline.
• Strong understanding of silicon photonics, integrated photonic circuits, optical communications, and photonic device physics.
• Hands-on experience designing, characterizing, or validating optical components and integrated photonic systems.
• Experience with laboratory optical measurement equipment such as optical spectrum analyzers (OSA), vector network analyzers (VNA), bit error rate testers (BERT), optical power meters, tunable lasers, coherent receivers, sampling oscilloscopes, and high-speed optical instrumentation.
• Experience developing automated laboratory test environments using Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, or equivalent software tools.
• Strong analytical, experimental, and troubleshooting skills with the ability to translate research concepts into practical engineering solutions.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering organizations.

Preferred Experience

• Experience with co-packaged optics (CPO), linear pluggable optics (LPO), coherent optical communications, or optical interconnect technologies for AI infrastructure.
• Familiarity with photonic integrated circuit (PIC) design platforms and Process Design Kits (PDKs).
• Experience with optical packaging, fiber attach, wafer-level testing, advanced photonic assembly, or semiconductor manufacturing processes.
• Knowledge of hyperscale data center optical architectures and high-speed Ethernet technologies (400G, 800G, 1.6T and beyond).
• Experience in optical manufacturing test, production automation, design-for-testability (DFT), or high-volume manufacturing validation.
• Familiarity with AI and machine learning techniques applied to optical characterization, predictive maintenance, or manufacturing analytics.
• Experience contributing to industry standards organizations, technical publications, or patented innovations in photonics or optical communications.