Senior Laser Test & Characterization Engineer (Photonics)

Location: Austin, Texas, United States; full-time onsite

Salary: $160K–$185K annually, plus equity opportunities

Company

hirify.global is an AI hardware startup developing silicon-photonic processors with programmable metasurfaces for highly energy-efficient large-scale AI inference.

What you will do

• Design, build, maintain, and operate laser and optical-amplifier characterization benches, including polarization-maintaining fiber setups at watt-level optical power.
• Measure RIN, linewidth, frequency and phase noise, wavelength stability, side-mode suppression, polarization extinction ratio, pulse shape, amplitude uniformity, and timing jitter.
• Characterize RF and microwave chains up to tens of GHz, including synthesizers, clock chains, Ka-band amplifiers, filters, phase alignment, and modulator bias control.
• Characterize optical amplifiers for gain, noise figure, saturation, added RIN, and correlated or uncorrelated channel noise.
• Automate measurements and build traceable Python-based instrument-control and data-analysis pipelines.
• Convert measurements into test procedures, specifications, pass/fail thresholds, vendor evaluations, and system-level noise and timing budgets.

Requirements

• MS or PhD in electrical engineering, physics, optics, or photonics.
• Hands-on experience with narrow-linewidth DFB, external-cavity, or fiber lasers at 1550 nm, from industry for 3+ years or through graduate research.
• Direct experience measuring RIN and laser phase or frequency noise, including shot noise, thermal noise, and instrument-floor limitations.
• Experience characterizing high-speed pulsed or modulated optical signals using fast photodetectors, sampling oscilloscopes, autocorrelation, and optical spectrum analysis.
• RF and microwave experience to tens of GHz with phase-noise or signal-source analyzers, spectrum analyzers, synthesizers, RF amplifiers, and coaxial interconnects.
• Experience with polarization-maintaining fiber, including fusion splicing, connector care, and PER measurement.
• Working knowledge of EDFA fiber amplifiers.
• Python or similar experience for instrument control and data analysis.
• Clear written communication for test procedures, reports, and actionable specifications.

Nice to have

• Femtosecond-level timing-jitter metrology, photodetected pulse trains, residual phase noise, or cross-correlation analyzers.
• Mode-locked lasers or electro-optic pulse carving using Mach-Zehnder or thin-film lithium-niobate modulators, bias control, or RZ formats.
• Balanced detection and common-mode rejection measurements.
• Stimulated Brillouin scattering, interferometric noise from reflections, and mitigation techniques.
• High-power fiber amplifiers, including multicore or cladding-pumped designs.
• Optical communications or microwave photonics, including coherent or high-baud-rate links and optoelectronic oscillators.
• Experience bringing up a new laboratory and managing equipment purchases or rentals.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative startup environment focused on photonics, AI hardware, and energy-efficient computing.
• 100% coverage of base health-plan premiums for employees and dependents, with HSA contributions.
• Unlimited PTO.
• 401(k) matching and stock option opportunities.
• Dental, vision, life, hospital, critical illness, accident, and other voluntary benefits with personalized plan choices.