Photonic Packaging Engineer

The application window is expected to close on: 12/14/2026

This is an onsite role and will require working out of our Carlsbad, CA office location.

Meet the Team The Silicon One team creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco’s core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow.

Because full product development—from design to qualification to production—is within our team, we’re able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Your Impact Step into the ultra-fast lane of next-generation infrastructure and redefine the future of high-speed optical connectivity. As a Photonic Packaging Engineer in Cisco's elite Optics group, you won’t just build components—you will engineer the very foundation of Silicon Photonics, crafting advanced packaging platforms and cutting-edge electromechanical assemblies that power global networks. Leveraging state-of-the-art AI/ML analytics, automation, and high-volume manufacturing innovations, you'll directly shape technologies as they evolve from early prototype to global deployment.

If you are ready to collaborate across global engineering teams, solve industry-defining physics and assembly challenges, and spearhead the optical revolution, this is your chance to make a lasting mark on technology before the rest of the world catches up.

Core Role & Prototyping:
Photonic Packaging Engineers develop next-generation packaging platforms, novel subassemblies, and electromechanical prototypes for Cisco's Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuits and chipsets.

Automation & Advanced Analytics:
Automate assembly systems and apply AI/ML and analytics to optimize high-volume manufacturing, simulate edge cases, and enhance diagnostic usability across the product lifecycle.

Global Leadership &

Collaboration:

Partner with cross-functional hardware, software, and manufacturing teams globally to drive project delivery, support international deployments, and mentor engineers on AI-assisted tools.

Minimum Qualifications Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 year of related experience

Hardware/process automation experience

Preferred Qualifications Experience in hardware/software automation of photonics assembly/test.

Experience with machine vision in an automation environment.

Data analysis (SQL/JMP) in a semiconductor production environment

Software development using C# on .NET Knowledge of photonics, fiber optics and semiconductor lasers

Why Cisco? At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you. Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $ to…