Optical Test Engineer

As an Optical Test Engineer, you will own the characterization, calibration, and validation of advanced optical sensing and display systems. You'll design and automate experiments to measure system performance, develop calibration procedures and analysis pipelines, and work cross-functionally with optical, electrical, firmware, and systems teams to rapidly improve hardware performance and reliability.

This role is highly hands-on and ideal for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments, enjoys building lab infrastructure and automation tools, and can turn complex experimental data into actionable engineering insights.

- Design and execute characterization experiments to evaluate optical sensor and display performance, including range, accuracy, resolution, brightness, noise floor, linearity, and field of view

- Develop automated test systems and analysis pipelines for efficient system and component evaluation and calibration

- Develop, implement, and validate calibration algorithms and procedures for intrinsic and extrinsic sensor parameters (e.g., beam pointing, intensity, temperature compensation)

- Build automated test setups and data acquisition pipelines using Python

- Analyze large datasets from sensor characterization campaigns; identify failure modes, performance trends, and areas for improvement

- Maintain detailed lab documentation including test plans, experimental procedures, calibration records, and characterization reports

- Collaborate with optical, electrical, firmware, and systems engineering teams to close the loop between characterization findings and hardware/firmware iterations

- Support bring-up and evaluation of new sensor hardware revisions in a lab environment

- B.S., M.S., or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related field

- 3-5 years of hands-on experience in sensor characterization, optical systems testing, or related hardware validation roles

- Proficiency in Python for test automation, data analysis, and visualization (NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib or equivalent)

- Experience with optical measurement equipment (e.g., integrating spheres, optical power meters, beam profilers, oscilloscopes)

- Ability to design controlled experiments and draw statistically sound conclusions from data

- Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to document work clearly and concisely

- Background working in a hardware startup or similarly fast-paced, resource-constrained environment preferred

- Experience supporting transfer of calibration processes to manufacturing/NPI environments preferred