Silicon Photonics Test Engineer - California, Santa Clara, United States
$122,440 - $232,190 USD yearly
Originally posted 17 September 2026 by the employer.
This role focuses on Silicon Photonics products, including Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Electrical Integrated Circuits (EICs).
About the role
This role involves developing and executing comprehensive validation for Silicon Photonics products, including Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), Electrical Integrated Circuits (EICs), optical sub-systems, and advanced optical interconnect platforms. The position focuses on characterizing and validating PIC, EIC, and system performance through the development of test stations.
What you'll do
- Develop, own, and execute comprehensive validation for Silicon Photonics products, including Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), Electrical Integrated Circuits (EICs), Optical sub-systems, Reference modules, and advanced optical interconnect platforms.
- Develop software and automation to control VNAs, LCAs, AWGs, Oscilloscopes, Bit-error-rate testers, SMUs, and Optical instrumentation.
- Perform detailed characterization of Silicon Photonics devices, including Modulators, Photodetectors, Integrated lasers, Optical engines with RF Driver, TIA, and ADC/DACs.
- Characterize and validate the performance of 100G/lane and 200G/lane PAM4 Transmitters and Receivers, FRO/LRO/LPO Modules, and Near-Packaged Optics (NPO).
- Collect and analyze Small-signal performance, Large-signal performance, BER performance, and Eye diagrams.
- Partner with teams spanning Silicon Photonics design, RFIC development, Packaging and thermal design, Firmware development, Manufacturing test, NPI, and product engineering.
What you'll need
- Bachelors with 4+ years, Masters with 3+ years, or PhD in Electrical Engineering or a STEM-related field.
- 3+ years of hands-on experience testing and validating Silicon Photonics devices, RFICs, or optical communication subsystems.
- Experience working with Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), RF probes and probe stations, Evaluation-board-based optical subsystems, and High-speed electrical and optical measurement equipment.
- Experience testing optoelectronic devices, including Lasers, Modulators, Photodetectors, and Optical interconnect technologies.
- Experience developing automated test environments and data collection.
- Strong programming skills for instrument control, automation, and data processing.
- Experience using Python and data analytics tools for characterization and reporting.
- Experience working with VNA/LCA platforms, AWGs, DCAMs, High-speed oscilloscopes, and Optical test equipment.
- Experience performing RF probe calibration using calibration substrates and advanced measurement methodologies.
Nice to have
- Experience with 100G/lane PAM4, 200G/lane PAM4 DSP, RF Driver/TIA, uControllers, DACs, ADCs, Power supplies, SMUs.
- Python, C++ or equivalent software platform experience.
- Laboratory optical and electrical measurement skills.
- Use of AI tools for code generation, debug, and deployment.
- Expertise in physics of opto-electronics devices and RFICs that drive opto devices.
- Demonstrated programming skills to control and automate evaluation boards and test instruments.
- Experience with optical transceiver test and calibration methodologies.
- Understanding of electrical and optical requirements and specifications of optical transceiver MSA, including 800G DR8/2xFR4, 1.6T DR8/2xFR4, 800G LPO, 1.6T LRO.
This role has been open 25 days — below the 27-day median for Silicon Test Engineering roles.
Silicon Test Engineering · DFT Test
|
Open roles in category
526
|
Median days open
27 d
|
Median salary
$169k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Intel Corporation | All employers we track in this specialty (526 roles · 76 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 3 | 526 |
| Open roles in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family | 17 | 2199 · 111 employers |
| Median days open | 25 d | 27 d (−2 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $169k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Teradyne · 67 open roles · median 25 d
- Renesas Electronics · 41 open roles · median 25 d
- Infineon Technologies · 39 open roles · median 35 d
- Micron Technology · 28 open roles · median 34 d
- AMD · 26 open roles · median 40 d
- Qualcomm · 25 open roles · median 27 d
How we counted: 526 open Silicon Test Engineering (DFT Test) roles from 76 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 13 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family row. Figures refresh nightly.