Intern - Optical Design Software & Automation Engineer (PhD Level)

Keysight Technologies, Inc.•Santa Clara, CA

About The Position

Keysight is hiring a PhD-level intern to develop optical design software and automation solutions. The role combines optical-system design and analysis with software development, optimization, and workflow orchestration. The intern will work with tools including CODE V, LightTools, and RSoft, creating integrated workflows for optical simulation and engineering studies. The position involves collaborating with application engineers, optical design experts, and software development teams, and documenting reusable, production-quality tools.

Requirements

Be a PhD candidate in Optics, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
Have a strong foundation in geometrical optics, physical optics, imaging systems, illumination optics, and computational optics.
Have hands-on experience with optical design and analysis tools such as CODE V, LightTools, Zemax OpticStudio, LucidShape, or similar platforms.
Have advanced programming skills in C++ or Rust and Python.
Have experience building research-grade or production-quality software tools.
Have an interest in automation, workflow orchestration, and engineering productivity solutions.
Have experience embedding optimization heuristics, decision logic, or AI-assisted capabilities into engineering workflows.

Nice To Haves

Experience designing imaging, illumination, camera, AR/VR, automotive, display, or related optical systems.
Experience with freeform optics, tolerance analysis, stray-light analysis, or large-scale optical optimization.
API-level integration with commercial optical simulation tools.
Experience building workflows connecting multiple engineering applications, including optical and photonics simulation environments.
Familiarity with agent-based, workflow-oriented, or multi-step automation frameworks.
Knowledge of photonics or electromagnetic simulation tools such as RSoft.
Demonstrated ability to translate advanced optical engineering concepts into usable software solutions.
Familiarity with modern software development practices, including source control, code reviews, automated testing, CI/CD, and collaborative development using industry-standard tools.

Responsibilities

Design, model, and analyze imaging, illumination, and optical systems using CODE V, LightTools, and related optical simulation tools.
Develop software and automation frameworks for optical design, analysis, optimization, tolerance studies, and design trade studies.
Design and prototype agentic or semi-autonomous workflows for multi-step optical simulation, optimization, and evaluation pipelines.
Integrate CODE V, LightTools, and RSoft through software APIs and custom workflow automation.
Develop cross-product workflows combining ray optics, illumination, imaging, and photonics analyses for end-to-end engineering studies.
Support optical system performance evaluation, design exploration, and optimization across multiple simulation environments.
Develop and validate numerical algorithms for optimization, workflow integration, and engineering decision support.
Explore AI-assisted or rule-based approaches for optical design iteration, trade-study execution, and workflow coordination.
Document workflows and deliver reusable, production-quality software tools.
Collaborate with application engineers, optical design experts, and software development teams.