PIC Design Engineer for Photonic Quantum Computers at Quandela (Massy, France)
Job Description
This photonic integrated circuit design job in France is a PIC Design Engineer role in Quandela’s Integrated Photonics team in Massy, designing and optimising the building blocks of the photonic chips that route and manipulate single photons inside the company’s quantum processors.
At a glance
- Position: PIC Design Engineer (full time, on site)
- Where: Massy, Île-de-France, France
- Pay: Not stated; competitive compensation
- Apply: open until filled (re-checked 23 October 2026)
What the photonic integrated circuit design engineer does
- Run electromagnetic and thermal simulations of photonic components (Lumerical required; Tidy3D or similar is a plus) and weigh loss, footprint, fabrication tolerance and performance
- Design and optimise waveguides, interferometers, beam splitters, phase shifters and reconfigurable elements, and contribute to next-generation components including high-speed and new-material integration
- Turn simulations into mask layouts with GDS-based tools and prepare tape-outs with external foundries
- Compare measured data with simulations, find performance gaps and refine models and layouts with the characterisation team
Why this role matters
In a photonic quantum computer, every decibel lost on the chip and every fabrication-induced phase error costs quantum operations. Quandela outsources fabrication but keeps simulation, architecture and design-for-manufacturing in-house, so the design engineer’s choices set how far the processors can scale. The posting says the coming year is design-driven: robustness to fabrication variability and higher integration density.
What Quandela is looking for
- A master’s or PhD in photonics, physics, electronic engineering or a related field
- Hands-on experience with PIC simulation, with Lumerical strongly preferred
- Experience turning simulations into manufacturable layouts with GDS tools such as GDSFactory, IPKISS or KLayout
- A grasp of integrated-photonics fundamentals: waveguide physics, interferometers, beam splitters and phase control
- Ability to reason at circuit level, beyond single components, and professional English
Nice to have
- Closing the loop between simulation and experiment; knowledge of fabrication constraints and design for manufacturing
- Python for automation, scripting or data analysis; interest in scalable quantum hardware (quantum knowledge is a plus, not a requirement)
- Experience with industrial PIC platforms or foundries, high-speed photonic components or cryogenic constraints, and inverse design or particle swarm optimisation
Pay and location
Quandela does not state a salary. It lists competitive compensation aligned with experience, a company savings plan, full health coverage, transport reimbursement or a mobility bonus and meal vouchers. The role is on site in Massy, south of Paris. The posting welcomes strong PhD profiles as well as engineers with a few years of experience.
How to apply
Apply through the official Quandela job posting. Quandela’s posting does not give a closing date, so the role is open until filled; ResearchJobs.in will re-check this listing on 23 October 2026. Check the posting for location and work-authorisation details before you apply.
See all our quantum technology jobs, or browse more research jobs on ResearchJobs.in.
Hiring institution: Quandela
Official advertisement: apply.workable.com
How to prepare for this application
- Bring a design you took from simulation to GDS to measured chip, with the gap between predicted and measured performance and what you changed
- Be ready to reason about a Mach-Zehnder mesh at circuit level: how phase errors and splitter imbalance add up, and how you would design for tolerance
- Show a GDSFactory, IPKISS or KLayout script rather than hand-drawn layouts; parametric design is what the team uses
- Revise foundry basics: design rules, process design kits and how wafer-level variability shows up in your components
- Quantum knowledge is not required, but knowing why single-photon loss matters so much in photonic quantum computing will help
About Quandela
Quandela is a French quantum computing company, founded in 2017, that builds photonic quantum computers. It develops its own single-photon sources and photonic integrated circuits and makes its machines available through the cloud and on premises. Its main site is in Massy, near Paris.
