Senior Optical Systems Validation Engineer - Optical Circuit Switch (OCS)

PsiQuantum•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

PsiQuantum is seeking a Senior Optical Systems Validation Engineer to lead validation of optical switching technology in representative data-center communication systems. The engineer will work closely with photonics, hardware, firmware, and systems engineering teams to bring up optical-link and bit-error-rate (BER) setups, define validation plans, and quantify performance under customer-relevant operating conditions. The work will support product-readiness decisions, design choices, and customer demonstrations, while helping establish the team's test capabilities, qualification methods, and technical approach to optical-link validation. This is a hands-on technical role for an engineer experienced in independently building and debugging communication test systems. The position includes translating customer requirements into reproducible tests, automating test setups, evaluating link performance and optical power margin, investigating failures, and communicating results through clear reports and demonstrations.

Requirements

Degree in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Relevant experience (5+ years preferred) in high-speed optical communications or interconnect validation, including independent ownership of hardware bring-up and qualification.
Hands-on experience building and debugging optical-link test setups using BER equipment, optical transceivers, and relevant optical or high-speed electrical instrumentation.
Understanding of optical link budgets, receiver sensitivity, high-speed modulation, receiver synchronization, equalization, and forward error correction.
Proficiency in Python or a comparable language for instrument control, test automation, and data analysis.
Ability to translate link requirements into measurable, reproducible tests, critically interpret results, and communicate findings across engineering teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience validating optical switching systems or data-center optical interconnects.
Experience with transient measurements, receiver synchronization, or link recovery testing.
Experience with Ethernet, InfiniBand, or other relevant high-speed interconnect interfaces.
Experience building network testbeds and using traffic generators to measure throughput, latency, and packet loss.
Experience supporting customer evaluations or reproducing integration issues in the laboratory.

Responsibilities

Translate customer requirements into optical-link validation plans covering test configurations, coverage, operating conditions, acceptance criteria, and appropriate test durations.
Select, bring up, and automate test setups using BER equipment, optical transceivers, evaluation platforms, and relevant communication endpoints.
Build representative link configurations based on intended customer architectures, including relevant scale-up and scale-out applications.
Measure link error performance and remaining optical power margin under steady-state and dynamic operating conditions, comparing reference links with links incorporating the company's switching subsystems.
Investigate link failures and performance limitations, distinguish subsystem effects from transceiver, electrical-interface, firmware, and test-setup behavior, and coordinate investigations with relevant engineering teams.
Develop repeatable demonstrations and produce clear reports describing measured performance, limitations, and readiness for customer evaluation.