Director / Lead Test Development Engineer

Voyant Photonics•New York, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Voyant Photonics, based in the heart of New York City, is transforming machine perception with a new class of LiDAR devices that are compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand and powerful enough to measure range, velocity, and reflectivity with unparalleled accuracy. By leveraging cutting-edge silicon photonic chips smaller than your fingertip, we deliver sensors that are not only revolutionary in performance but also affordable enough to integrate into any system. Our technology disrupts the status quo of bulky, expensive, and power-hungry LiDAR systems, making high-precision sensing accessible for widespread adoption in robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial automation, and beyond. Voyant Photonics is seeking a Director / Lead Test Development Engineer to own and elevate the strategy, architecture, and execution of scalable, high-throughput testing for our integrated LiDAR sensors. This role combines hands-on test engineering expertise with strategic leadership, overseeing the development of robust test methodologies and driving test infrastructure from prototype to volume production. You will collaborate across Systems, Photonics, Electrical, Firmware, and Manufacturing Engineering teams, while also mentoring and guiding junior test engineers. This is an opportunity to shape Voyant’s test strategy, influence product reliability and yield, and lead test architecture for a cutting-edge LiDAR platform.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline.
8+ years of experience in production/test engineering, ideally with LiDAR, imaging, or other complex optical systems.
Proven expertise in test strategy, architecture, and implementation across hardware, firmware, and software domains.
Hands-on experience developing and deploying automated test setups (Python preferred), including test instrumentation and DAQ systems.
Deep experience in statistical process control, yield analysis, and high-volume production analytics.
Demonstrated ability to lead teams, influence cross-functional stakeholders, and own strategic test decisions.
Experience working with contract manufacturers and external test vendors.

Nice To Haves

Experience with FMCW LiDAR or coherent optical systems.
Familiarity with MES systems, manufacturing analytics platforms, or test data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the end-to-end test strategy for LiDAR sensors, including system-level performance validation (range, velocity, reflectivity, etc.).
Architect and implement automated test fixtures, software, and data acquisition systems for scalable production testing.
Translate lab-level validation methods into robust, production-ready tests across optical, electrical, and mixed-signal domains.
Collaborate with external contract manufacturers and test vendors to scale and optimize production test infrastructure; support factory bring-up and operator training.
Lead root-cause investigations for test failures, implementing permanent solutions and optimizing yield.
Own statistical process control (SPC), production analytics, and test data-driven decision-making across the manufacturing lifecycle.
Mentor and guide a team of test engineers, setting standards for test methodology, automation, and best practices.
Support reliability and environmental testing (thermal cycling, vibration, shock) for product qualification.