Senior Photonics Test & Automation Engineer

K2 is building the largest and highest-power satellites ever flown, unlocking performance levels previously out of reach across every orbit. Backed by over $1 billion in total funding from leading investors including Altimeter Capital, ICONIQ, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and T. Rowe Price — and with over $1 billion in signed contracts across commercial and US government customers, we're mass-producing the highest-power satellite platforms ever built for missions from LEO to deep space.

The rise of heavy-lift launch vehicles is shifting the industry from an era of mass constraint to one of mass abundance, and we believe this new era demands a fundamentally different class of spacecraft. Engineered to survive the harshest radiation environments and to fully capitalize on today's and tomorrow's massive rockets, K2 satellites deliver unmatched capability at constellation scale and across multiple orbits.

With multiple launches in 2027 and plans to scale to 100 satellites a year, we're Building Bigger — helping develop the solar system and build toward a Kardashev Type II (K2) civilization. If you are a motivated individual who thrives in a fast-paced environment and you're excited about contributing to the success of a high-growth Series D-funded company, we'd love for you to apply.

The Role

K2's ambitions extend beyond the satellite bus. By designing and operating our own spacecraft and regularly manifesting hardware to orbit, K2 is uniquely positioned to develop, test, and deploy ambitious, “limit-of-physics” optical and photonic payloads across MEO, GEO, cislunar, and deep space on unprecedented timelines. The satellite bus is the platform – the payloads are the mission.

As the first Photonics Test & Automation Engineer on K2's founding photonics team, your role is to define how K2 tests photonics: you will build the lab and the software that turn photonic integrated circuits (PICs), from wafers and die to packaged modules, into data the team trusts and uses to improve future product generations. You will own photonic test from first-silicon bring-up through production screening, working alongside PIC designers, packaging engineers, and K2's ASIC and post-silicon validation teams. Our photonics are tested on the bench and through free space, so you will also connect PIC test stations to custom free-space optical testbeds and channel emulators so device and channel measurements run in one framework. In your first year, you will stand up an automated PIC test station from the ground up and set the standard every photonic part K2 builds is characterized against.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own automated wafer-, die-, and module-level PIC test stations, including optical and RF probing, fiber-array alignment, and swept-laser measurements.
• Develop modular, reusable test automation software and instrument drivers in Python, with version control, CI, and AI-assisted tooling, and a shared data pipeline used by design, packaging, and reliability engineers.
• Interface PIC test stations with custom free-space optical testbeds (beam delivery and steering, spatial light modulators and phase screens, cameras and wavefront sensors) through shared instrument control, synchronization, and data.
• Characterize passive and active photonic devices (waveguides, couplers, filters, modulators, photodetectors, and heaters) including high-speed electro-optic measurements.
• Own design-for-test standards (test-structure library, probe and fiber-array conventions); correlate measurements with simulation, feed them into the team's design automation and modeling flow, and maintain statistical process control and gauge R&R.
• Build portable, automated setups for in-situ measurements during radiation, thermal-vacuum, and burn-in campaigns with K2's reliability and radiation-effects engineers.
• Scale test from one device to many (parallel test, test-time reduction, and operator procedures) and hand off to production at constellation volume.
• Mentor engineers and technicians, and set lab standards for safety, calibration, and documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, physics, optics, or a related technical field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience testing photonic integrated circuits or optoelectronic components (probing, fiber alignment, and optical test equipment).
• Built automated test stations from scratch, with Python for instrument control, test frameworks, and data analysis.
• Hands-on free-space optics (alignment, beam characterization, cameras or wavefront sensors).

Nice to Have

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in a related field.
• Integrating free-space optical setups into automated test, and writing test plans and defining test structures with designers.
• Atmospheric turbulence, adaptive optics, or free-space optical communications, especially turbulence emulation with spatial light modulators or phase screens, or outdoor and field optical testing.
• High-speed electro-optic characterization to 50+ GHz (lightwave component analyzers, VNAs, BERTs, sampling oscilloscopes).
• Experience with commercial photonic probers and automated test equipment (e.g., FormFactor, MPI, ficonTEC).
• Polarization-diverse and phase-sensitive optical measurements.
• Environmental, thermal-vacuum, burn-in, or radiation testing of space hardware.
• Production test, manufacturing execution systems, or SQL test databases.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $220,000 + equity in the company
• Salary will be based on several factors including, but not limited to: knowledge and skills, education, and experience level
• Comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, medical/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, paid parental leave, and many other perks

If you don’t meet 100% of the preferred skills and experience, we encourage you to still apply! Building a spacecraft unlike any other requires a team unlike any other and non-traditional career twists and turns are encouraged!

If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of your application for employment or interviews with us, please let us know.

Export Compliance

As defined in the ITAR, “U.S. Persons” include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (i.e., Green Card holders), and certain protected individuals (e.g., refugees/asylees, American Samoans). Please consult with a knowledgeable advisor if you are unsure whether you are a “U.S. Person.”

The person hired for this role will have access to information and items controlled by U.S. export control regulations, including the export control regulations outlined in the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR). The person hired for this role must therefore either be a “U.S. person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.15 or otherwise eligible for a federally issued export control license.

Equal Opportunity

K2 Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with K2 Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.