Photonic IC Design Engineer, Chip-to-System Integration

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price - and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger - helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

K2's ambitions extend beyond the satellite bus. By designing and operating our own spacecraft and regularly manifesting hardware to orbit, K2 is uniquely positioned to develop, test, and deploy ambitious, “limit-of-physics” optical and photonic payloads across MEO, GEO, cislunar, and deep space on unprecedented timelines. The satellite bus is the platform - the payloads are the mission.

As a Photonic IC Design Engineer focused on chip-to-system integration, you will design photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and the packages that connect them to the outside world: small, light, low-cost, and rugged enough to fly at constellation scale. You will own the boundary between chip and system on both sides: optically, how light gets on and off the chip and how fibers are attached and held; electrically, the high-speed modulators, RF interfaces, and bias and tuning control that connect the PIC to its drive electronics. You will also make sure the whole assembly survives launch and years in orbit. Your coupling-loss, modulator, and bandwidth numbers feed directly into system link budgets, so you will work closely with K2's systems, photonics test and automation, RF, ASIC, and manufacturing teams, and with external foundry and packaging partners. As a founding member of the photonics team, you will help set how K2 designs, packages, and qualifies photonic hardware.

Responsibilities

• Design, simulate, and lay out PIC devices and circuits (edge and grating couplers, spot-size converters, photodetectors, and passive components) from specification to tapeout on commercial integrated photonics foundry platforms.
• Design high-speed modulators (e.g., traveling-wave Mach-Zehnder and ring modulators), including electrodes, terminations, and RF launches, and co-design them with RF and ASIC engineers against driver and TIA specifications.
• Implement bias and tuning control in hardware: place heaters and monitor photodiodes, define the drive and readout interface with K2's electronics engineers, and bring up closed-loop modulator bias and resonator locking, verified over temperature and radiation.
• Set the optical I/O requirements (coupling loss, alignment tolerance, polarization, and I/O placement on the die) and work them into the floorplan with chip designers and into the link budget with systems engineers.
• Design the mechanical side of the package in 3D CAD: PIC carriers and submounts, fiber-array V-groove and lid geometry, strain relief, and alignment and assembly fixtures, with tolerance stack-ups tied back to the coupling-loss budget.
• Drive radiation, thermal-vacuum, and vibration qualification of photonic devices and packages: write the test plans, lead the campaigns alongside K2's test and reliability engineers and outside test facilities, and turn the results into design rules.
• Partner with the photonics test and automation team on characterization: define test plans and pass/fail metrics, design test structures and probe- and fiber-array-compatible layouts, help bring up and validate automated measurements, and use the shared data pipeline to close the loop between simulation, measurement, and design.
• Carry the high-speed electrical path through the package (wirebond or flip-chip transitions and RF interconnects to the drive electronics) and present designs at preliminary and critical design reviews.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS in electrical engineering, optics, physics, or a related field, or a Bachelor's degree with equivalent experience.
• PIC designs taken through tapeout on one or more commercial integrated photonics platforms (e.g., silicon photonics, silicon nitride, indium phosphide, thin-film lithium niobate), with the fabricated devices characterized in the lab.
• Hands-on work at the chip boundary: optical I/O design with fiber attach or packaging, or high-speed modulator and RF design measured with a VNA (S-parameters, electro-optic bandwidth).
• Photonic device simulation (Meep, Tidy3D, Lumerical FDTD, FEM, or EME), layout tools (e.g., KLayout, gdsfactory, Cadence), and Python for automation and data analysis.

Nice to Have

• 3D mechanical CAD (e.g., SolidWorks, Inventor, Fusion) for package parts or fixtures, including drawings that a machine shop can build from.
• Radiation, thermal-vacuum, or vibration testing of photonic or electronic devices.
• Inverse design or topology optimization of couplers and other optical I/O devices.
• RF package or board design to tens of GHz (e.g., HFSS, Sonnet).
• Heterogeneous or 3D integration and co-packaged optics.
• Hardware built for space or other harsh environments.
• Modulator bias control, resonator locking, or other closed-loop control of photonic devices.
• Background in RF or microwave engineering.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $130,000 - $200,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.