Sensor Verification & Characterization Engineer (LiDAR)

Job Title

Sensor Verification & Characterization Engineer (LiDAR)

Role Summary

Join the Systems Team reporting to the System Integration Lead to design, run, and automate verification and characterization activities across LiDAR sensor subsystems and full systems. The role drives early derisking experiments, builds verification benches, correlates measurements with models, and supports maturation toward production.

Experience Level

Mid-level - typically 4+ years of hands-on experience in system or sensor test, verification, characterization, or early-stage technology derisking; exceptional candidates at other levels may be considered.

Responsibilities

Execute verification and characterization across subsystems and full sensors, and communicate results to guide design and product decisions.

• Design and run verification and characterization tests for subsystems and complete sensor systems across operating conditions.
• Plan and execute rapid derisk experiments to inform specifications and architecture before formal requirements exist.
• Correlate measurements with simulation and analytical models and feed results back to design and modeling teams.
• Troubleshoot and debug system- and subsystem-level failures using systems-engineering and first-principles reasoning.
• Generate clear test reports, hypotheses, and recommendations on specification limits and design tradeoffs.
• Build, maintain, and automate test benches and lab equipment for repeatable verification.
• Adapt quickly to changing requirements and shifting program priorities.
• Collaborate with hardware, photonics, optics, firmware, and controls engineers from bring-up through production support.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and practical experience to perform hands-on verification and characterization work.

• 4+ years hands-on experience in system or sensor test, verification, characterization, or early-stage derisking.
• Practical experience with lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, power supplies, function generators, spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers) and test automation.
• Proficiency in Python for test automation and data analysis.
• Experience designing experiments under uncertainty and estimating measurement uncertainty.
• Strong systems-level thinking and ability to apply physics/engineering fundamentals to debug complex problems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to convert data into clear reports and actionable hypotheses.
• Self-starter who can operate with minimal formal process and define structure where needed.
• Ability to work on-site in New York.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with FMCW LiDAR, radar, or other optical/photonic sensing systems.
• Experience validating and refining physical models with measurement data.
• Experience automating motorized stages, gimbals, or opto-mechanical test setups.
• Familiarity with C/C++ for embedded or test applications.

Education Requirements

BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field is expected; MS or PhD is a plus. (No certifications or equivalent-experience language specified.)

About the Company

Company: Voyant Photonics

Headquarters: New York, NY, USA

New York City–based company developing compact silicon photonic LiDAR sensors that measure range, velocity, and reflectivity with high accuracy. Uses fingertip-scale silicon photonic chips to produce affordable, high-performance sensors for robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial automation, and other sensing applications.