Senior Foundry Integration Engineer

About us

nEye.ai, a well-funded optical switch startup, is poised to revolutionize the future of data centers. nEye’s MEMS-based silicon photonics optical circuit switches (OCS) eliminate critical bottlenecks in AI processing by enabling direct optical connections among thousands of GPUs and memory units. The company's OCS is an ultra-low power consumption, high radix, compact chip-scale design, offering hyperscale data centers enhanced performance, efficiency, and scalability.

Role Overview

We're looking for a detail-oriented Senior Foundry Integration Engineer to own the technical execution of development programs with our external semiconductor foundry partners.

This role sits at the intersection of design, layout, process integration, and manufacturing. You'll coordinate engineering wafer runs from layout release through wafer delivery, ensuring tape-ins are complete, process flows are optimized, engineering experiments are well defined, and development data is captured and communicated effectively.

This is an excellent opportunity for an engineer with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to coordinate multiple concurrent foundry development programs, engineering lots, and technical deliverables.

Key Responsibilities

Tape-In & Foundry Execution

• Own engineering tape-ins from finalized layout through successful release to external foundry partners.
• Coordinate cross-functional tape-in readiness across Design, Layout, MEMS Integration, and Process Engineering teams.
• Participate in tape-in quality reviews, ensuring layouts, documentation, and process assumptions are complete before release.
• Track engineering lots from tape-in through wafer delivery and communicate status across the organization.

Development Programs & NPI Management

• Define, coordinate, and track engineering split lots to maximize technical learning while optimizing wafer utilization.
• Develop and manage short-loop experiments and Design of Experiments (DOEs) to investigate process issues and accelerate development.
• Own NPI split management, including technical definition, schedule tracking, wafer tracking, engineering data collection, and results summarization.
• Coordinate development activities with foundry engineers to ensure engineering objectives and timelines are achieved.

Process Flow Review

• Review process flows alongside layout prior to tape-in to identify potential manufacturability or integration risks.
• Evaluate process assumptions, mask layers, and layout interactions before fabrication.
• Work closely with MEMS Integration Engineers to ensure process flows support device requirements.
• Help identify opportunities to improve process robustness before engineering wafers are fabricated.

Process Flow Evaluation & Simulation

• Perform process flow evaluations using layout review tools such as KLayout.
• Analyze layout layers and process interactions to identify potential fabrication issues before tape-in.
• Support simulation of process flow alternatives to improve manufacturability and development efficiency.
• Grow into ownership of process flow modeling and simulation capabilities as the foundry development program expands.

Required Experience and Skills

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of experience working with semiconductor process development or process integration.
• 7+ years of experience collaborating with semiconductor foundries or external manufacturing partners.
• MEMS or silicon photonics manufacturing experience.
• Understanding of semiconductor fabrication process flows.
• Experience defining or supporting Design of Experiments (DOE) activities.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple parallel engineering activities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience supporting tape-ins or engineering wafer programs.
• Familiarity with semiconductor layouts and mask data.
• Experience reviewing process flows for manufacturability.
• Knowledge of KLayout or similar layout visualization tools.
• Experience with process simulation or process flow modeling.
• Familiarity with commercial semiconductor foundries.
• Professional proficiency in Mandarin Chinese is a plus to support technical collaboration with overseas foundry partners.

$170,000 - $220,000 a year

Starting salary and title will depend on, and be commensurate with, relevant experience, skills, training, education, market demands, and the ultimate job duties and requirements.

nEye is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.