Silicon Photonics Wafer Test Automation Development Engineer - California, Santa Clara, United States
$149,600 - $245,160 USD yearly
Originally posted 7 August 2026 by the employer.
This role involves developing and optimizing wafer-level testing solutions for integrated photonic devices.
About the role
This role involves supporting the development, implementation, and optimization of wafer-level testing solutions for integrated photonic devices built on Intel's silicon photonics platform.
What you'll do
- Lead the design, development, and maintenance of automated wafer-level test systems for silicon photonics devices.
- Develop and maintain software applications to support automated characterization and production testing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and optical components.
- Collaborate with photonic device designers to implement and validate test algorithms.
- Partner with data engineering and analytics teams to ensure test outputs meet data quality, processing, and reporting requirements.
- Create, update, and maintain test procedures, specifications, and documentation.
- Work with laboratory technicians to monitor, troubleshoot, and improve test system performance, reliability, and throughput.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration with design, manufacturing, process integration, and quality teams.
What you'll need
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline & 4+ years of experience OR a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical discipline & 3+ years of experience.
- 4+ years of hands-on experience with semiconductor device characterization and testing methodologies.
- 4+ years of experience designing and developing automated test solutions for engineering or manufacturing environments.
- 2+ years of experience in software development using Microsoft Windows.
Nice to have
- Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, Materials Science, or a related field.
- Experience testing and characterizing integrated photonic devices and/or photonic integrated circuits.
- Strong understanding of optical component design, characterization, and measurement techniques.
- Experience operating wafer probing equipment and automated wafer-level test platforms.
- Familiarity with National Instruments (NI) hardware, drivers, and remote instrument control protocols.
- Experience with mechanical system design and integration.
- Background in optical system design and alignment.
- Experience in RF test.
- Solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), software architecture, and best practices for maintainable test software development.
This role has been open 71 days — well above the 30-day median for Silicon Test Engineering roles.
Silicon Test Engineering · DFT Test
|
Open roles in category
551
|
Median days open
30 d
|
Median salary
$173k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Intel Corporation | All employers we track in this specialty (551 roles · 78 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 6 | 551 |
| Open roles in the wider Silicon Validation & Test family | 24 | 2218 · 113 employers |
| Median days open | 13 d | 30 d (−17 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $173k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Teradyne · 75 open roles · median 24 d
- Renesas Electronics · 43 open roles · median 24 d
- Infineon Technologies · 41 open roles · median 40 d
- Micron Technology · 29 open roles · median 34 d
- Qualcomm · 28 open roles · median 30 d
- Texas Instruments · 23 open roles · median 25 d
How we counted: 551 open Silicon Test Engineering (DFT Test) roles from 78 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 18 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.