Photonics Applications Engineer

Overview
Application

About EMode

EMode develops simulation software for integrated photonics. The company was founded in Boulder in 2021 around an eigenmode solver with a Python scripting interface. Since then the product has grown into a three-dimensional eigenmode expansion package that research groups and companies use to design waveguides, resonators, couplers, arrayed waveguide gratings, and nonlinear and quantum photonic devices.

Our current development is aimed closing the gap between a photonic device simulation/design and the device experimental performance after fabrication. We want designers to optimize against the performance they will actually receive, including realistic geometry, scattering loss, thermal and electrical effects, and nonlinear response, from a single component up through a full circuit. Doing this at practical speed requires methods that are orders of magnitude more efficient than the conventional ones, so that a designer can sweep parameters, run optimizations, and carry fabrication tolerances through the analysis.

Working at EMode

We are a small team, growing to meet demand from academia, industry, and enterprise photonics development. The people who join in this round will have a direct hand in how the company and the product develop.

You will have close feedback from users, helping guide our product development to create real value and impact in our customers' workflows.
Releases go out every few weeks, so your work is quickly in users' hands.
We work on site in Boulder, Colorado. The team is collaborative with decisions about the roadmap, the architecture, and hiring.
Much of the work begins with new derivations: nonlinear electromagnetics, mode theory, semiconductor device physics, and numerical linear algebra. We support publishing results when appropriate.
Every position includes stock options, sized to reflect joining at an early stage.
As an early employee you will have more responsibility than the same title would carry at a larger company, and you will help establish the practices of our growing team.

The Role

Our customers are photonics researchers and design engineers. They decide whether to try EMode when something they have read or watched shows them it will solve a problem they have. This position produces that material and all other public content for the EMode brand.

About half of the work is technical marketing: application notes, tutorial models, documentation, webinars, short videos, and conference demonstrations that show what EMode does on real devices. The other half is direct work with prospects and users: running evaluations, building a model of a customer’s device, answering support questions, and reporting back to engineering on what can be improved.

For such a technical product sold to photonics experts and specialists, the content has to come from someone who is also an expert and can run realistic demonstrations.

What You Will Do

Write application notes and design tutorials on the industry-relevant devices: nonlinear frequency conversion, resonators, couplers, arrayed waveguide gratings, detectors, etc.
Own the documentation and the example library, including updates and maintenance
Run webinars and record short walkthroughs, and present and demonstrate at relevant conferences
Support evaluations: scope the user’s problem, build a representative model, and get them to a result they can use
Handle first-line technical support and triage issues to engineering
Keep our LinkedIn presence, newsletter, and website content current
Report what you learn from users and prospects back to the development team: what they asked for, what confused them, and where we lost them

What Success Looks Like in the First Year

A library of application notes and tutorials that takes a new user to a working design in an afternoon
Inbound evaluation requests increase tenfold and lead to new sales
You have run a webinar series and demonstrated at two or more major conferences
Evaluations convert at a measurably higher rate than before you joined

What We Are Looking for

M.S. or Ph.D. in photonics, electrical engineering, physics, or a closely related field, with hands-on photonic device design or characterization
The ability to hold a peer-level technical conversation with a customer’s design team
Clear writing and effective presentations
Comfortable presenting to a room and on camera
Willingness to travel, roughly 10 to 20 percent

Also valuable: applications engineering, field applications, or technical sales at a simulation, EDA, or test-and-measurement company. Experience with other photonics design tools. Video or web content production. Teaching experience.

Compensation and Benefits

Base salary: $115,000 – $145,000, depending on experience
Stock options
Health, dental, and vision insurance
Paid time off, paid sick leave, and Colorado FAMLI paid family and medical leave
Travel expenses covered

How to Apply

Apply on the Application tab of this posting. Include your CV and a short cover letter that answers one question: what do you want to work on, or get better at, over the next year or two? Links to publications, code, or other work are welcome.

Applications for this position close on November 20, 2026.

Location and Eligibility

All positions are on site in Boulder, Colorado. Relocation assistance is available.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Some of our work is supported by federal contracts and may be subject to U.S. export control regulations, so certain positions may require eligibility to access controlled technical data.

EMode, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

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