Silicon Photonics Systems Test Engineer – Optical Circuit Switches (OCS)

Voyant Photonics•New York, NY

4d•$120,000 - $160,000•Onsite

About The Position

Voyant Photonics is seeking a Silicon Photonics Systems Test Engineer to join its Systems Team and report to the System Integration Lead. The engineer will be one of the first hands-on contributors to the optical circuit switches (OCS) program, taking the technology from early technical derisking through proof of concept. The role focuses on testing the company’s developed architecture and models by establishing OCS test benches, characterizing early chips and prototypes, identifying differences between hardware and models, and translating findings into decisions. The engineer will work across photonics design, modeling, controls, electronics, firmware, and the LiDAR program. The work combines rapid exploratory experiments with disciplined, repeatable characterization. The position is based on-site at Voyant’s lab and office in Midtown Manhattan. Work is primarily in person, with schedules adjusted as needed for customer calls across time zones; the company does not follow a rigid 9-to-5 schedule. Voyant describes its environment as high-trust and high-accountability, with meaningful ownership and catered lunch at headquarters every day.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics, or a related field; an MS or PhD is a plus.
Four or more years of hands-on experience in photonic or optical testing, characterization, or early-stage technology derisking; exceptional candidates at other experience levels may also be considered.
Hands-on experience with optical lab equipment such as tunable lasers, optical power meters, optical spectrum analyzers, and polarization controllers, as well as fiber handling and coupling and standard electrical equipment.
Demonstrated experience automating test equipment and analyzing large datasets.
Proficiency in Python for test automation and data analysis.
Ability to work with models, understand assumptions behind a loss budget or circuit simulation, design experiments to test them, and explain discrepancies in physical terms.
Strong systems-level thinking and ability to apply physics and engineering fundamentals to debug complex, ambiguous problems.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn raw data into clear reports and actionable hypotheses.
Self-starter who can thrive with minimal formal process and define structure where it does not yet exist.
Must be able to work on-site.

Nice To Haves

Experience testing silicon photonic integrated circuits, optical switches, or datacom/telecom optical modules.
Familiarity with photonic simulation tools such as Lumerical or similar.
Experience with wafer- or die-level probing and high-channel-count test setups.
Experience automating motorized stages or fiber alignment systems.

Responsibilities

Plan and run rapid derisk experiments on early silicon photonics test chips and subsystems to validate architectural assumptions.
Characterize optical performance across switch paths, including insertion loss, crosstalk, extinction ratio, polarization and wavelength dependence, and switching time.
Correlate measurements with device, circuit, and system models, and communicate discrepancies to design and modeling teams with clear physical explanations.
Identify and measure indicators of performance scaling with port count, including per-element variation, neighbor crosstalk, and calibration effort per port.
Design, build, and automate OCS test benches, developing test approaches that can scale as port counts grow.
Produce clear test reports and well-formed hypotheses that drive design decisions and inform specification limits.
Collaborate with photonics design, modeling, controls, electronics, and firmware engineers, as well as peers on the LiDAR program.
Move between quick-turn exploratory experiments and disciplined, repeatable characterization.