Senior Optical Packaging Engineer
PsiQuantum · Milpitas, CA
- Level
- Senior
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 10+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- 30+ days ago
The role in 30 seconds
A senior manufacturing role at PsiQuantum (industrial) in Milpitas, CA. Design, execute, summarize and analyze experiments & process trend studies to improve the performance and reliability of optical packaged assemblies.
- They ask for
- 10+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Root cause, Assembly lines, Tooling
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of October 26, 2026
Manufacturing Engineer roles in California: typical posted base $111k–$167k.
Median of the low and high ends of 130 live postings that list pay, out of 359 manufacturing engineer openings in California, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
California plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 358 other live manufacturing postings in California.
- Base pay
- Not listed in this posting
- Experience asked
- More than usual (10+ vs 5+)
Typical $110k–$153k, from 115 postings that list pay.
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Tooling 53%
- ✓ New product launch 50%
- ✓ Root cause 38%
- Automation 35%
- CATIA / NX 28%
- Machining 27%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
Stands out: this posting asks for Assembly lines, which few similar roles mention. If you have it, lead with it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at PsiQuantum
We found 1 person at this company and state: 1 in this kind of role. Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. See them ↓
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
Write to Hong → (free) - 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
This plant: PsiQuantum in Milpitas
10 other open roles at this site · 1 person we found in manufacturing roles at PsiQuantum.
- Senior Electronics Systems Integration & Validation Engineer · Quality · Senior
- Senior System Integration & Optical Validation Engineer · Quality · Senior
- Cryostat Equipment Engineer · Manufacturing
- Production Technician · Production · Technician
- Fiber Assembly Process Engineer (hiring from Associate to Senior levels) · Process · Senior
- Validation Engineer, Electro-Optical devices · Quality
Full description from PsiQuantumAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Job Summary
The Senior Optical Packaging Engineer is responsible for developing & implementing a high-performance & robust fiber-to-chip package and a scalable packaging process for optical systems comprised of optical fibers attached to a variety of chip-based photonic integrated circuits.
Responsibilities
- ◆Develop an optical package and fiber-to-chip alignment scheme that allows for high alignment accuracy and scalable assembly.
- ◆Help develop packaging prototypes & scalable fiber-to-chip packaging flows, NPI.Review packaging design BOMs, work with supply chain on procuring parts needed for assembly.
- ◆Establish and update version-controlled DFM
requirements
and feed back to packaging design group.
- ✓Design, execute, summarize and analyze experiments & process trend studies to improve the performance and reliability of optical packaged assemblies.
- ✓Work with manufacturing group and vendors on transferring & scaling packaging designs and processes based on successful prototypes.
- ✓Advise manufacturing group and vendors on setup of high-throughput packaging assembly lines.
- ✓Work with external vendors and suppliers to source required materials and provide feedback on evolving requirements.
Experience/Qualifications
- ✓Master’s Degree or above in Engineering, Physics or Material Science.
- ✓10+ years of experience with/at semiconductor company or supplier working on PIC packaging design, qualification & multi-chip assemblies.
- ✓5+ years of experience working with optical fibers, optical measurements.
- ✓5+ years of work experience with advanced semiconductor packaging OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly & Test) and/or EOL vendors.
- ✓5+ years of experience with semiconductor company or supplier working on FAU / optical connector to chip attachment.
- ✓Experience with fiber attach tooling & process/flow development and optical data analysis.
- ✓Experience with FA and 8D failure resolution techniques.
- ✓Experience with developing metrics for yield and quality management, including reliability and yield based on optical and mechanical performance.
Note: PsiQuantum will only reach out to you using an official PsiQuantum email address and will never ask you for bank account information as part of the interview process. Please report any suspicious activity to recruiting@psiquantum.com .
We are not accepting unsolicited resumes from employment agencies.
The ranges below reflect the target ranges for a new hire base salary. One is for the Bay Area (within 50 miles of HQ, Palo Alto), the second one (if applicable) is for elsewhere in the US (beyond 50 miles of HQ, Palo Alto). If there is only one range, it is for the specific location of where the position will be located. Actual compensation may vary outside of these ranges and is dependent on various factors including but not limited to a candidate's
qualifications
including relevant education and training, competencies, experience, geographic location, and business needs. Base pay is only one part of the total compensation package. Full time roles are eligible for equity and benefits. Base pay is subject to change and may be modified in the future.
$160,000 — $180,000 USD
Bay Area Pay Range
$183,000 — $200,000 USD
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
PsiQuantum’s mission is to build the first useful quantum computers—machines capable of delivering the breakthroughs the field has long promised. Since our founding in 2016, our singular focus has been to build and deploy million-qubit, fault-tolerant quantum systems.
Quantum computers harness the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that even the most advanced supercomputers or AI systems will never reach. Their impact will span energy, pharmaceuticals, finance, agriculture, transportation, materials, and other foundational industries.
Our architecture and approach is based on silicon photonics. By leveraging the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry—including partners like GlobalFoundries—we use the same high-volume processes that already produce billions of chips for telecom and consumer electronics. Photonics offers natural advantages for scale: photons don’t feel heat, are immune to electromagnetic interference, and integrate with existing cryogenic cooling and standard fiber-optic infrastructure.
In 2024, PsiQuantum announced government-funded projects to support the build-out of our first utility-scale quantum computers in Brisbane, Australia, and Chicago, Illinois. These initiatives reflect a growing recognition that quantum computing will be strategically and economically defining—and that now is the time to scale.
PsiQuantum also develops the algorithms and software needed to make these systems commercially valuable. Our application, software, and industry teams work directly with leading Fortune 500 companies—including Lockheed Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Mitsubishi Chemical—to prepare quantum solutions for real-world impact.
Quantum computing is not an extension of classical computing. It represents a fundamental shift—and a path to mastering challenges that cannot be solved any other way. The potential is enormous, and we have a clear path to make it real.
Come join us.