The posting
Silicon Photonics Control & Calibration Engineer (OCS)
About us:
Voyant Photonics builds silicon photonic chips that steer and switch light at high speed. They power next generation, chip-scale FMCW LiDAR for robotics and autonomy, and optical circuit switches (OCS) for AI data centers. Based in NYC, we’re a hands-on team designing, building, and deploying frontier hardware to solve problems that matter, from how machines see to how AI scales.
About the role
We're looking for a Silicon Photonics Control & Calibration Engineer to join our Systems Team, reporting to the System Integration Lead. You'll own how our OCS photonic devices are driven, calibrated, and stabilized, from early device characterization through validated firmware. You'll design the algorithms, define what the drive electronics must deliver, build the benches to prove it all out, and own final validation once firmware implements your work.
What You'll Do:
- Characterize the control behavior of photonic devices such as thermo-optic phase shifters, MZIs, and switch elements, including drive response, thermal crosstalk, drift, and variation.
- Design calibration routines and closed-loop control algorithms, prototyping them in Python and validating on test benches and hardware-in-the-loop setups.
- Derive driver electronics requirements from device physics and control needs, such as DAC/ADC resolution and noise, bandwidth, channel count, power, and inter-channel crosstalk.
- Validate driver hardware against those requirements, partnering with electronics engineers on design tradeoffs.
- Hand off algorithms to firmware as clear specifications with reference implementations and test vectors.
- Own final validation of firmware-implemented control and calibration, comparing embedded behavior against the Python reference.
- Design, build, and automate the test setups that support all of the above.
- Collaborate closely with photonics design, test, electronics, and firmware engineers, and generate clear reports that drive decisions.
What We're Looking For
- MS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics, or a related field, or a BS with equivalent experience (PhD a plus).
- 4+ years of hands-on experience in control, calibration, or characterization of optical, photonic, or other precision physical systems, though we're open to exceptional candidates at other experience levels who show strong potential and the right attitude.
- Strong fundamentals in control and estimation: feedback design, stability, noise, and system identification from measured data.
- Solid understanding of photonic device physics, particularly phase shifters and interferometric devices.
- Mixed-signal electronics literacy sufficient to write and verify driver specifications and debug at the board level.
- Proficiency in Python for algorithm prototyping, test automation, and data analysis.
- Hands-on experience with lab equipment and demonstrated experience automating test setups.
- Ability to read embedded C/C++ and debug alongside firmware engineers.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially for specifying algorithms and requirements others will implement.
- A self-starter who thrives with minimal formal process, and is comfortable defining structure where it doesn't yet exist.
- Must be able to work on-site.
Nice to Have
- Experience calibrating or controlling silicon photonic circuits, tunable lasers, optical switches, or coherent/datacom transceivers.
- Experience with multi-channel calibration at scale, including dither or lock-in based stabilization.
- Hands-on embedded C/C++, FPGA, or real-time systems experience.
- Experience with hardware-in-the-loop test frameworks.
Life at Voyant
We build frontier hardware & systems from our lab and office in Midtown Manhattan, where optical tables, lab benches and electronics sit alongside traditional office space. Our work is hands-on and primarily in person, but we don’t run on a rigid 9-to-5. We partner with customers across time zones, so some calls start early or run late, and we adjust schedules around them. We run a high-trust, high-accountability environment: you’ll own meaningful work, move quickly and often wear more than one hat. Voyant provides catered lunch every day at HQ, and we’re a diverse group of food lovers from around the world who enjoy sharing food, culture and technical ideas around the lunch table.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Voyant Photonics is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital or partnership status, age, national origin, citizenship, veteran or military status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, caregiver status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
