Senior System Engineer Photonics

SMART Photonics is the world’s first pure-play InP foundry. From Eindhoven’s High Tech Campus, we enable global leaders in datacom, telecom, sensing, and healthcare to bring next-generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs) to life. As part of our fast-growing scale-up, you’ll work at the crossroads of customers, product strategy, and R&D, helping define tomorrow’s photonic technology, today.

As our Senior System Engineer, you’ll be the bridge between customers and technology. You translate customer and market requirements into clear PIC specifications, define architectures, and oversee system integration. Working closely with our internal teams: Product Management, Technical Competence Centre, and R&D, you’ll ensure our building blocks deliver performance, scalability, and manufacturability for the next generation of optical engines, transceivers, and subsystems.

Your responsibility:

System Architecture & Requirements

· Translate customer and market needs into PIC requirements and building block specs.

· Shape architectures for PIC-based datacom components and subsystems.

· Lead trade-off analyses across performance, power, cost, and manufacturability

Integration & Validation

· Drive integration of photonics, electronics, packaging, and firmware/software.

· Develop and use system-level models and simulations (optical/electrical/thermal).

· Define and oversee verification and validation plans, including testing and qualification.

Cross-Functional Leadership

· Act as the technical interface between Product Management, R&D, and TCC.

· Drive design reviews and alignment across all disciplines.

· Mentor colleagues in system engineering practices and photonics development.

Lifecycle & Standards

· Ensure compliance with industry standards (IEEE, OIF, MSA).

· Support design-for-manufacturability, yield optimization, and reliability.

· Contribute to risk management and continuous improvement.

· MSc or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Photonics/Optical Engineering, Physics, or related.

· 7+ years’ experience in system engineering for photonics or optical communication systems.

· Proven track record with PIC-based component or subsystem designs (InP, SiPh, or heterogeneous integration).

· Solid knowledge of datacom standards (100G/400G/800G Ethernet; coherent systems a plus).

· Familiarity with system engineering V-model and lifecycle methods.

· Proven senior-level experience in influencing cross-functional teams, driving alignment, and communicating with impact across technical and business stakeholders, without relying on formal authority.

Preferred: Experience with co-packaged optics, coherent PICs, DFx principles, or collaboration with foundries, OSATs, and subsystem suppliers.

What We Offer

· A high-impact role shaping the future of datacom photonics.

· A customer-facing, strategy-defining position at the heart of our innovation.

· Collaboration with global leaders and multidisciplinary experts.

· A vibrant, international working environment at High Tech Campus Eindhoven.

· Flexibility, growth opportunities, and relocation support.