Senior Staff Engineer - Optical Systems & Experimental Platforms (Saratoga)

Senior Staff Engineer – Optical Systems & Experimental Platforms

Eridu is a Silicon Valley-based hardware startup pioneering infrastructure solutions that accelerate AI data centers to deliver Faster AI. Today’s AI performance is frequently limited by communication bottlenecks. Eridu introduces multiple industry-first innovations across silicon, packaging, software, and systems to deliver an order of magnitude improvement in performance and unlock greater GPU utilization to speed training job completion times and tokens-per-second for more profitable inference. We do this while simultaneously reducing capital and power costs and improving reliability.

The company’s solutions and value proposition have been widely validated by leading hyperscalers.

Eridu has raised over $200M to date including its most recent, oversubscribed Series A round. The company is led by a veteran team of Silicon Valley executives who have delivered multiple billion dollar product lines and led multiple companies to billion dollar exits, including serial entrepreneur Drew Perkins, co-founder of Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN), Lightera (acq. by Ciena), Gainspeed (acq. by Nokia) and Mojo Vision (the world’s leading micro-LED company). The company is in execution mode and has a world-class engineering team with decades of experience in state-of-the-art silicon, packaging, optics, software, and systems. Eridu is working with best-in-class supply chain partners including silicon, packaging and systems.

Visit our website eridu.ai to learn more.

Position Overview

Owns the development and execution of test and measurement systems for advanced optical communication systems, with an initial focus on the Optical Bridge programs. Responsible for building and automating the optical lab, designing and running complex experiments, and generating the experimental data needed to validate and refine system designs. Works in close partnership with Greg Miller, who leads Optical Bridge and broader system development spanning devices, subsystems, and integration.

Test and Measurement Ownership

• Own development and execution of test and measurement systems for Optical Bridge and related programs
• Design and run experiments for optical and electro-optical subsystem characterization
• Develop methodologies for alignment, coupling, loss, and system validation
• Provide experimental data to guide design decisions and reduce technical risk
• Build and operationalize the optical lab
• Design automated measurement systems using nanopositioners and instrumentation
• Develop high-throughput scan routines and workflows
• Ensure repeatable and scalable measurement processes

Software and Data

• Develop MATLAB and/or Python tools for experiment control and data analysis
• Manage and analyze large datasets
• Correlate results with models and simulations

Optical Bridge & Photonics Programs

• Support diffractive-waveguide Optical Bridge and alternative concepts including GRIN and TIR
• Contribute to CPO, XPO, and fiber interface programs
• Collaborate across teams needing experimental validation support

Advanced Device Evaluation

• Test and characterize state-of-the-art optical detectors
• Benchmark external technologies against system needs
• Contribute to publications and technical disclosures

What Success Looks Like

• Optical lab is fully operational and automated
• Testing bottlenecks are removed from Optical Bridge programs
• High-quality data drives rapid design iteration
• Strong support provided across photonics programs

Why Join Us?

At Eridu, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of AI infrastructure, working with a world-class team on groundbreaking technology that pushes the boundaries of AI performance. Your contributions will directly impact the next generation of AI infrastructure solutions, transforming the performance of AI data centers.

The starting base salary for the selected candidate will be established based on their relevant skills, experience, qualifications, work location, market trends, and the compensation of employees in comparable roles.