Photonic Test Development Engineer

Acceler8Talent is proud to partner with a well-funded AI hardware startup that has raised $30.7M in seed funding to develop a fundamentally new computing architecture combining superconducting electronics with integrated photonics. Emerging from research conducted within the NIST ecosystem, the company is rethinking how AI compute is built from first principles, using neuroscience-inspired approaches to overcome the scaling, efficiency, and communication limitations of conventional silicon-based systems.

The team is developing cryogenic photonic networks that integrate photonic integrated circuits, lasers, and superconducting photon detectors with novel computing hardware. Backed by significant venture funding and government-supported research programs, the company is entering an important phase of hardware development and team growth.

They are looking for a Photonics Test Development Engineer to build and own the optical test and characterization capability for their next-generation photonic hardware. This is a highly hands-on role where you will develop custom cryogenic test infrastructure, automate complex optical measurements, characterize devices and subsystems, and work directly with design and integration teams to accelerate the design-build-test-learn cycle.

What You’ll Do:

• Own end-to-end optical test development for cryogenic photonic networks, from test setup design through measurement methodology and validation
• Design, build, and automate optical, electrical, and optoelectronic test systems for chip- and package-level photonic devices
• Develop automated fiber-to-chip coupling, alignment, instrument control, and data acquisition workflows
• Characterize passive SiN photonic components including grating couplers, splitters, couplers, waveguides, and mode converters
• Measure key device metrics including insertion loss, coupling efficiency, waveguide loss, splitting ratio, bandwidth, and polarization extinction ratio
• Characterize active photonic devices including integrated lasers, optical amplifiers, photodetectors, and superconducting single-photon detectors
• Develop custom measurement techniques for unique photonic and cryogenic hardware
• Build scalable systems for test automation, data processing, and structured experimental data management
• Analyze characterization results and provide direct feedback to photonic design, fabrication, and integration teams
• Document test methodologies and communicate findings through technical reports, presentations, and design reviews

What You Bring:

• B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics, Photonics, or a related technical field
• Hands-on experience designing, assembling, and automating optical test and characterization setups
• Experience characterizing photonic or optoelectronic devices, including fiber coupling, grating coupler measurements, waveguide loss measurements, and/or photodetector testing
• Knowledge of laser device physics and practical experience performing laser characterization
• Strong Python experience for test automation, instrument control, data acquisition, and analysis
• Ability to independently develop experimental solutions rather than simply operate established test equipment
• Strong communication skills and the ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving, highly collaborative R&D environment

Desired Experience:

• Experience with cryogenic optical or electrical measurements and cryostat-based test systems
• Experience characterizing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) or other single-photon detectors
• Experience with silicon nitride (SiN) photonics or other integrated photonics platforms
• Experience with automated photonic probe stations or wafer-level photonic testing
• Experience developing automated fiber alignment or chip-coupling systems
• Experience characterizing integrated lasers, optical amplifiers, or other active photonic devices
• Experience building test infrastructure from the ground up in an R&D or early-stage hardware environment
• Experience with databases or structured systems for managing large volumes of characterization data

This is an opportunity to join a small, rapidly growing hardware team where you will have significant ownership over how new photonic technologies are tested and developed, rather than inheriting an established test platform.