PIC Characterization Engineer
$110,000–$145,000 year
On-site · Palo Alto, California, United States
Job Summary
Lead characterization and validation of advanced integrated photonic systems for next-generation optical interconnects. Support photonic sub-assembly bring-up, system testing, calibration, and performance analysis from prototype through product maturation. Develop scalable automated test methodologies for active photonic devices and electro-photonic systems. Collaborate closely with photonic designers, electronics, packaging, firmware, and manufacturing teams to enable rapid development cycles. Responsibilities include performing optical and electro-photonic characterization of PICs and photonic sub-assemblies, developing automated test frameworks for validation, calibration, and data collection, characterizing active photonic devices such as switches, modulators, heaters, and monitor photodiodes, and analyzing metrics like insertion loss, crosstalk, switching speed, bandwidth, and power consumption. Work with photonic designers to correlate silicon results with simulations and improve designs. Support hardware bring-up, debugging, and failure analysis. Document test procedures and summarize technical results for cross-functional teams.
Required Qualifications
- Ph.D. or M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, or related field
- 3+ years of experience in photonic characterization or integrated photonics development
- Hands-on experience with optical lab equipment such as tunable lasers, OSAs, power meters, scopes, and probe stations
- Experience characterizing active photonic and electro-photonic systems
- Strong test automation and data analysis skills using Python
- Familiarity with calibration methods, thermal tuning, and photonic control systems
- Strong debugging and cross-functional collaboration skills
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