If you are a Photonics Test Automation Engineer with 5+ years building software for automated test and lab instrumentation, please read on!
Based out of Santa Clara, CA, we are a well-funded, venture-backed optical switching startup. Our MEMS-based silicon photonics switches connect thousands of GPUs and memory units directly with light, removing a critical bottleneck in AI data centers. We have grown from 18 to over 50 people in the last year and are hiring across product development.
This is a test automation and hardware/software integration role, not an optical characterization or pure data-analysis role. You are a strong software engineer who likes working close to hardware: you take the measurements our optical engineers define and turn them into automated stations that run reliably, repeatably, and at scale.
What You Will Be Doing
- Architect software for automated optical, electrical, MEMS, and system-level test stations
- Write instrument drivers and hardware abstraction layers for tunable lasers, optical power meters, optical spectrum analyzers, detectors, polarization controllers, motion stages, environmental equipment, and FPGA/ASIC control boards
- Interface with hardware over VISA/SCPI, TCP/IP, USB, serial, GPIB, REST APIs, and vendor SDKs
- Build reusable test frameworks in Python (or C++) with sequencing, parameterization, configuration, automated calibration, limits checking, and error recovery
- Own data acquisition pipelines from instrument readout through structured storage, logging, and traceable metadata
- Turn prototype bench setups into documented, reproducible station platforms deployed across multiple labs and, later, pilot and production lines
- Establish Git-based workflows, code review, automated testing, and release practices for station software
- Work directly with optical, MEMS, hardware, firmware, reliability, and validation engineers in the lab
What We're Looking For
- 5+ years developing software for automated test equipment, laboratory instrumentation, semiconductor or optical test, hardware validation, or hardware-in-the-loop systems
- BS or MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Applied Physics, Mechatronics, or a related field
- Strong Python (preferred) and/or C++
- Demonstrated experience controlling physical instruments and hardware through software
- Experience with instrument drivers, hardware abstraction layers, automated test sequences, or station-control frameworks
- Familiarity with VISA/PyVISA, SCPI, serial, TCP/IP, USB, GPIB, REST APIs, or vendor SDKs
- Experience building data acquisition, logging, configuration, and structured test-result pipelines
- Strong software fundamentals: modular architecture, debugging, version control, testing, documentation
- Comfortable troubleshooting across software, instrumentation, electrical hardware, and physical test systems
- Experience working with hardware engineers, scientists, or validation teams in a lab
Nice to Have
- Experience automating optical or photonic test equipment (tunable lasers, power meters, OSAs, photodetectors, polarization equipment)
- Background in silicon photonics, optical transceivers, MEMS, semiconductor devices, or electro-optical systems
- Motion control, FPGA/ASIC test boards, embedded systems, or electromechanical devices
- LabVIEW, TestStand, pytest, or similar test frameworks
- Scaling engineering stations into qualification, pilot-line, or production environments
- Docker, CI/CD, or infrastructure for managing fleets of test stations
- Long-duration reliability testing or high-volume parametric data collection
- Enough optical measurement knowledge to work effectively with photonics engineers
- AI-assisted development tools in your daily workflow
What's In It for You
- Build the test infrastructure for a new class of product from the ground up, alongside the optical engineers who define the measurements
- On-site in Santa Clara, CA
So, if you are a Photonics Test Automation Engineer who likes working close to hardware, please apply today!
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