Senior Photonics Test & Automation Engineer

K2 Space•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

K2 is seeking the first Photonics Test & Automation Engineer on its founding photonics team. The role will define and build K2’s photonics testing capability, including the laboratory and software used to characterize photonic integrated circuits (PICs) from wafers and die through packaged modules. The engineer will own photonic testing from first-silicon bring-up through production screening, collaborating with PIC designers, packaging engineers, and ASIC and post-silicon validation teams. The role also connects PIC test stations to custom free-space optical testbeds and channel emulators, bringing device and channel measurements into a shared test framework. During the first year, the engineer will establish an automated PIC test station and define characterization standards for K2 photonic hardware. The position includes scaling testing toward production at constellation volume, supporting environmental and reliability campaigns, and mentoring engineers and technicians while setting lab standards.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, physics, optics, or a related technical field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 5 years of hands-on experience testing photonic integrated circuits or optoelectronic components, including probing, fiber alignment, and optical test equipment.
Experience building automated test stations from scratch.
Experience using Python for instrument control, test frameworks, and data analysis.
Hands-on experience with free-space optics, including alignment and beam characterization, and cameras or wavefront sensors.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a related field.
Experience integrating free-space optical setups into automated testing, writing test plans, and defining test structures with designers.
Experience with atmospheric turbulence, adaptive optics, or free-space optical communications, especially turbulence emulation with spatial light modulators or phase screens, or outdoor and field optical testing.
High-speed electro-optic characterization to 50+ GHz using lightwave component analyzers, VNAs, BERTs, or sampling oscilloscopes.
Experience with commercial photonic probers and automated test equipment, such as FormFactor, MPI, or ficonTEC.
Experience with polarization-diverse and phase-sensitive optical measurements.
Experience with environmental, thermal-vacuum, burn-in, or radiation testing of space hardware.
Experience with production testing, manufacturing execution systems, or SQL test databases.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and own automated wafer-, die-, and module-level PIC test stations, including optical and RF probing, fiber-array alignment, and swept-laser measurements.
Develop modular, reusable test automation software and instrument drivers in Python, using version control, CI, AI-assisted tooling, and a shared data pipeline.
Interface PIC test stations with custom free-space optical testbeds, including beam delivery and steering, spatial light modulators and phase screens, cameras, and wavefront sensors, through shared instrument control, synchronization, and data.
Characterize passive and active photonic devices, including waveguides, couplers, filters, modulators, photodetectors, and heaters, including high-speed electro-optic measurements.
Own design-for-test standards, including a test-structure library and probe and fiber-array conventions; correlate measurements with simulation and feed results into design automation and modeling flows.
Maintain statistical process control and gauge R&R.
Build portable, automated setups for in-situ measurements during radiation, thermal-vacuum, and burn-in campaigns with reliability and radiation-effects engineers.
Scale testing from one device to many through parallel testing, test-time reduction, and operator procedures, and hand off testing to production at constellation volume.
Mentor engineers and technicians and establish lab standards for safety, calibration, and documentation.