PIC Design Engineer (Visible Photonics) in Edinburgh

Member of Technical Staff – PIC Design Engineer (Visible Photonics) Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (On-site) Role Type: Full-time, Permanent Level: Principal / Lead About the Company Cnuic Technologies is a deep-tech company based in Edinburgh. We are building next-generation optical systems aimed at pushing the limits of precision manufacturing and nanoscale engineering. We are backed by substantial venture capital and have received grant support from several UK innovation agencies. We are a small, focused team working on genuinely difficult hardware problems. The work is fast-paced and collaborative, and we give engineers the space and resources to do serious technical work. If you want to build something from the ground up and care deeply about getting the physics right, this is a good place to be. About the Role This is a principal-level engineering role focused on the design and fabrication of photonic integrated circuits for visible light. You will take waveguide devices from first-principles simulation through to processed, measured chips. You will design the passive waveguide circuit, from waveguides, couplers and resonators to subwavelength structures, and define its optical interfaces to active components such as lasers and photodetectors that are brought onto the chip through heterogeneous integration. You will also be hands-on in the cleanroom, running the thin-film deposition, e-beam lithography, ICP-RIE and evaporation steps behind your designs, and feeding fabrication results into the next iteration. This is a lead role, so you will also help set technical direction for the photonics team and work closely with colleagues across simulation, hardware, and systems engineering. About You General Comfortable taking ownership of an open-ended technical problem without a fully detailed brief. Able to communicate complex photonics and process trade-offs clearly to engineers from other disciplines and to leadership. Comfortable defending technical decisions in design review, and responding to critical feedback with evidence rather than assertion. Comfortable in an environment where priorities shift as experimental and fabrication results come in. Key Requirements Photonic Design