Senior Optical Test Engineer

Key Responsibilities

Define Optical Characterization Strategy

Define characterization methodologies for silicon photonic devices and optical switching systems at wafer, die, and module levels.

Determine the appropriate measurements, instrumentation, calibration methods, sampling strategies, and experimental conditions required to accurately evaluate optical performance.

Establish rigorous measurement methodologies for parameters including insertion loss, return loss, wavelength-dependent loss, polarization-dependent loss, chromatic dispersion, differential group delay, group delay ripple, multipath interference, and related optical metrics.

Develop new characterization techniques when standard measurement approaches are insufficient.

Establish measurement accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility, uncertainty, and correlation across test environments.

Analyze & Interpret Optical Performance

Analyze complex optical characterization datasets to identify performance trends, correlations, anomalies, and failure signatures.

Translate raw measurement data into physical understanding of device and system behavior.

Distinguish true device behavior from measurement artifacts, calibration issues, instrumentation limitations, or test setup effects.

Use statistical analysis, modeling, DOE, and visualization to isolate critical parameters and uncover relationships between design, process, packaging, and optical performance.

Develop clear technical conclusions and recommendations from large and multidimensional datasets.

Drive Root Cause & Design Feedback

Partner closely with photonics design, MEMS, packaging, systems, firmware, process, and reliability engineers to investigate optical performance limitations and failure modes.

Correlate optical measurements with device architecture, fabrication conditions, packaging variables, environmental conditions, and system behavior.

Design targeted experiments to test hypotheses and isolate root causes.

Provide data-driven recommendations that influence device design, process development, packaging, calibration, and product architecture.

Help determine whether observed performance issues originate in the optical device, fabrication process, package, control system, measurement setup, or broader system.

Develop Advanced Optical Experiments

Design and execute experiments using equipment such as tunable lasers, optical spectrum analyzers, polarization controllers/analyzers, power meters, photodetectors, VNAs, BERTs, OTDR/OFDR systems, and related electro-optical instrumentation.

Develop calibration and reference methodologies for high-accuracy optical characterization.

Characterize optical components and systems across wavelength, polarization, temperature, power, operating state, and other relevant variables.

Work hands-on in the lab to debug experiments and ensure measurement integrity.

Enable Product Validation & Manufacturing

Define characterization approaches that can ultimately inform product specifications, validation limits, manufacturing test requirements, and yield criteria.

Partner with test automation engineers to translate optical measurement methodologies into repeatable automated test sequences.

Establish golden datasets, reference methods, correlation studies, and measurement acceptance criteria.

Support measurement system analysis (MSA), gauge R&R, statistical process control, capability analysis, and yield investigations where appropriate.

Help bridge advanced R&D characterization with scalable product validation and manufacturing test.

Communicate Technical Insight

Present characterization results and technical conclusions clearly to engineering teams and technical leadership.

Create concise reports and visualizations that communicate not only what happened, but why it happened and what should be done next.

Document characterization methodologies, calibration procedures, experimental assumptions, and measurement limitations.

Serve as a technical resource for optical measurement and characterization across the organization.

Required Qualifications

BS, MS, or PhD in Optical Engineering, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Photonics, or a related technical field.

8+ years of hands-on experience in optical or photonic device characterization, experimental optics, optical systems engineering, or a closely related field.

Deep understanding of optical measurement physics and experimental methodology.

Hands-on experience characterizing photonic devices, components, or systems using laboratory optical instrumentation.

Experience interpreting complex optical datasets and connecting measurement results to underlying physical behavior.

Strong understanding of optical performance metrics and the techniques used to measure them.

Experience with silicon photonics, optical communications, datacenter optics, telecom optics, PICs, transceivers, optical switching, or related technologies.

Strong quantitative analysis skills using Python, MATLAB, JMP, or similar tools.

Experience with DOE, statistical analysis, measurement uncertainty, and experimental correlation.

Ability to independently design experiments, troubleshoot measurement problems, and drive technical investigations.

Preferred Qualifications

Direct experience with silicon photonic devices, optical circuit switches, MEMS-based optical systems, or integrated photonics.

Experience characterizing optical components such as switches, couplers, mux/demux devices, DWDM filters, circulators, modulators, lasers, or transceiver optical assemblies.

Deep familiarity with optical metrics and measurement techniques including IL, RL, WDL, PDL, CD, DGD, GDR, and MPI.

Experience correlating wafer-, die-, and module-level optical performance.

Experience using characterization data to diagnose fabrication, packaging, alignment, reliability, or system-level issues.

Familiarity with MSA, gauge R&R, Cp/Cpk, SPC, and manufacturing yield analysis.

Experience working with high-volume semiconductor, photonics, or optical manufacturing environments.