Sensor Verification & Characterization Engineer (LiDAR)

About the role

We're looking for a Sensor Verification & Characterization Engineer to join our Systems Team, reporting to the System Integration Lead. This role spans the full arc of sensor development: running early derisk experiments that shape specifications and validate our models; building verification benches for new subsystems; and characterizing full systems as they mature toward production. You'll work across multiple active programs, pushing our platform further down the product lifecycle while standing up verification for brand-new subsystems.

What You'll Do

• Design and execute verification and characterization tests for full sensor systems and subsystems, ensuring designs meet performance requirements and building a clear picture of system behavior across operating conditions.
• Plan and run rapid derisk experiments for new technologies and subsystems to inform specifications and architecture decisions, often before formal requirements exist.
• Correlate measurements against simulation and analytical models, feeding results back to design and modeling teams to improve predictive accuracy.
• Troubleshoot and debug system-level and subsystem-level issues, applying strong systems-engineering and first-principles physics reasoning to isolate root cause.
• Generate clear test reports and well-formed hypotheses to share findings and drive decisions with the broader engineering team, including recommendations on specification limits and design tradeoffs.
• Build, maintain, and automate test benches and lab equipment to support repeatable, efficient verification.
• Adapt quickly to changing requirements, shifting priorities, and new problems as our programs evolve.
• Bring creativity to solving design challenges under real-world constraints.
• Collaborate closely with hardware, photonics, optics, firmware, and controls engineers throughout the system lifecycle, from bring-up through production support.

What We're Looking For

• BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field (MS or PhD a plus).
• 4+ years of hands-on experience in system or sensor test, verification, characterization, or early-stage technology derisking - though we're open to exceptional candidates at other experience levels who show strong potential and the right attitude.
• Hands-on experience with lab equipment (oscilloscopes, power supplies, function generators, spectrum analyzers, logic analyzers) and demonstrated experience automating test equipment.
• Proficiency in Python for test automation and data analysis.
• Experience designing experiments under uncertainty: choosing what to measure, estimating measurement uncertainty, and drawing defensible conclusions from limited data.
• Strong systems-level thinking and the ability to apply physics and engineering fundamentals to debug complex, ambiguous problems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - able to turn raw data and observations into clear reports and actionable hypotheses.
• A self-starter who can thrive with minimal formal process, and is comfortable defining and communicating structure where it doesn't yet exist.
• Comfortable moving between quick-turn exploratory experiments and disciplined, repeatable verification.
• Enthusiasm for tackling new and unexpected problems, and the flexibility to pivot as priorities shift.
• Must be able to work on-site.

Nice to Have

• Experience with FMCW LiDAR, radar, or other optical/photonic sensing systems.
• Experience working alongside modeling or simulation teams to validate and refine physical models.
• Experience automating motorized stages, gimbals, or other opto-mechanical test setups.
• Familiarity with C/C++ for embedded or test applications.