Staff Systems Engineer, Calibration, Bring-Up & Verification

Neurophos • Austin, TX

5d • $185,000 - $215,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Neurophos is developing a novel AI inference compute engine using silicon photonics and an active, programmable metasurface to perform matrix multiplications at the speed of light. Our optical cells are significantly smaller than traditional photonic components, enabling high density and efficiency. This architecture aims to deliver substantially improved energy efficiency and performance for large-scale AI inference compared to existing solutions. We are a well-funded startup with a world-class team, recently raising a $110M Series A led by Gates Frontier.

This full-time, onsite position in Austin, TX, is central to ensuring our optical vector-matrix multiplication (OVMM) engine meets its accuracy targets. The role involves owning the calibration architecture, system integration, and verification. You will devise calibration algorithms to correct optical phase, amplitude, and timing, define the bring-up and verification strategy, and conduct laboratory characterization of the hardware. The position requires a blend of control theory and signal processing expertise with hands-on lab work, bridging the gap from calibrated silicon to a verified system.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a closely related field, with emphasis on control systems, signal processing, or mixed-signal systems.
• 5+ years in calibration algorithm development, system bring-up, or verification of complex electro-optic or mixed-signal systems.
• Strong foundation in feedback control (stability analysis, sampled-data systems) and optimization methods (convex optimization, gradient descent, search algorithms), with demonstrated ability to formulate a calibration problem as a formal optimization problem and solve it efficiently.
• Hands-on experience bringing up and debugging complex hardware using oscilloscopes, spectrum/network analyzers, and optical test equipment, and correlating measured performance against a model.
• Proficiency developing calibration and test software (Python and/or MATLAB)—control loops, data acquisition, and automated characterization scripts—sufficient to run and iterate on lab measurements independently.
• Excellent communication skills for cross-functional collaboration with analog IC designers, digital designers, photonic device engineers, and system architects.

Nice To Haves

• Practical experience with digital signal processing techniques—spectral analysis, correlation, and adaptive filtering—applied within calibration or measurement loops.
• Experience specifying digital hardware for calibration (register maps, state machines, fixed-point arithmetic) sufficient to collaborate effectively with digital design engineers.
• Familiarity with Cadence Virtuoso and Spectre for validating calibration-relevant behavioral models against circuit-level simulation.
• Exposure to Bayesian optimization, machine learning for system calibration, or statistical design of experiments.
• Experience with optical transceiver calibration, phased-array beamforming, or ADC/DAC calibration.

Responsibilities

• Define the calibration architecture for the OVMM system, and scope and size the algorithms needed to correct optical phase, amplitude, and timing across many transmit and receive channels.
• Design, implement, and optimize calibration algorithms, applying control theory and optimization techniques to minimize calibration time while meeting system accuracy targets.
• Specify the calibration controller behavior, apply paths, and digital hardware structures needed to execute calibration in silicon, and define the calibration software and firmware interfaces that drive them.
• Define the system integration strategy, plan the integration sequence, and lead laboratory bring-up and debug of the assembled system, establishing acceptance criteria at each subassembly boundary.
• Define system-level test, diagnostic, and observability requirements so that bring-up, calibration, and field operation can all distinguish a healthy system from a degraded one.
• Develop verification plans, execute performance characterization in the lab, and correlate measured results with modeled predictions—identifying and root-causing gaps between the two.
• Develop calibration, control, and test software (primarily in Python) used both in the lab during bring-up and as the basis for production calibration flows.
• Supply the Signal-Path Performance & Modeling focus area with calibration accuracy budgets and sensitivity data derived from lab measurements.
• Flag to the Architecture & Requirements focus area any interface or requirement that impedes calibration, bring-up, or verification.
• Mentor engineers in calibration algorithm design, bring-up practice, and laboratory characterization methodology.

Benefits

• 100% coverage of base health plan premiums for you and your dependents, plus HSA contributions.
• Unlimited PTO.
• 401(k) matching.
• Stock option opportunities.
• Full suite of voluntary benefits, including Dental, Vision, Life, Hospital, Critical Illness, and Accident insurance.
• Personalized Benefits: Choose the plans that fit your life and take the cash back for those that don’t.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior