Staff / Senior Staff HW Test Automation Engineer

Lightmatter; Toronto; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Commuter benefit

Happy hour

Generous vacation policy

Job summary

Lightmatter in Toronto, Canada, seeks a Hardware Test Automation Engineer to drive instruments, testers, wafer probers, and lab automation to bring a chip to life and prove it works across bench and production test environments.

You will design and maintain test software, build data pipelines, and work closely with hardware and characterization teams, spending hands-on time in the lab and releasing test programs across internal cells.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hardware test software, ATE systems, or test architecture experience.
• Deep hands-on experience with ATE test methods and embedded test frameworks.
• Fluency with embedded software (C/C++) across hardware/software boundary.
• Master's/PhD plus 3+ years in hardware test software or test architecture.

Responsibilities

• Design and build test software that automates bring-up, characterization, and production tests.
• Develop and maintain test methods, flows, and instrument control code.
• Build data logging and results pipelines for accurate downstream analysis.
• Debug hardware/software integration issues and support test program releases.
• Collaborate with hardware/characterization engineers in lab environments.

Skills

Java

Python

Instrument control

Lab automation

Test software architecture

Data pipelines

Yield analysis

C/C++

Education

Bachelor's in CS/EE

Master's/PhD + 3+ yrs

Tools

SCPI/VISA

ATE systems

Job description

• Product Engineering builds the software that brings up, characterizes, and qualifies Lightmatter’s photonic chips on real hardware — from bench-top bring-up through production test on automated test equipment (ATE). You’ll write the code that drives instruments, testers, wafer probers, and lab automation to bring a chip to life and prove it works. Test software infrastructure at Lightmatter spans multiple platforms, wafer test, hardware validation, and laser/optical test, and this role often acts as the bridge between engineers working at the bench and the broader test software team
• As a Hardware Test Automation Engineer you’ll have the opportunity to work across some combination of: an internal test software framework (Java/Python-based), industry-standard ATE test method and testflow development, wafer prober integration, instrument control (optical and electrical sources, meters, sensors), embedded/firmware interfaces on the hardware side, and data pipelines from lab equipment to structured results
• Learn the hardware you’re automating well enough to make informed software decisions about it
• Design and build test software that automates device bring-up, characterization, and production test sequences across bench and ATE environments
• Develop and maintain test methods, test flows, and instrument control code depending on level and project while writing code and reviewing code are both daily parts of the role
• Work directly with hardware and characterization engineers to understand their needs and translate device physics and test requirements into working, repeatable test software
• Build and maintain data logging and results pipelines so test data is captured accurately and usable downstream (metric computation, yield analysis, production handoff)
• Debug test hardware/software integration issues, working across the device under test, the fixture, the instrument, and the test code to find root cause
• Support test program releases to internal test cells and, at senior levels, to external test facilities
• Communicate daily with the team on progress and blockers, and spend regular time in the lab working hands-on with hardware

Benefits

• Commuter benefit
• 401(K)
• Happy hour -Spend time together and build friendships
• Generous vacation policy and holidays
• Opportunity to learn from your peers and teach them what you know across electronics, photonics, machine learning, and more

History of mentoring engineers and driving cross-functional technical decisions with hardware, characterization, and manufacturing teamsCan articulate, end to end, how they scoped, planned, implemented, and validated an automation projectTrack record of owning test software architecture for a product line, including decisions on how the framework scales across projects and teams8+ years of experience in hardware test software, ATE systems, or test architecture, ideally in semiconductor or photonicsDeep hands-on experience with ATE test method/test flow development and/or embedded test frameworks for hardware test automation, plus fluency with instrumentation automation (SCPI/VISA or equivalent) at a level where you can teach it to othersBachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or related fieldComfortable working at the hardware/software boundary — reading and reasoning about embedded software (C/C++), controls, or firmware well enough to co-develop directly with the engineers who own itMaster’s/PhD with 3+ years, of experience in hardware test software, ATE systems, or test architecture, ideally in semiconductor or photonicsExperience integrating ATE with wafer-level hardware (probers, handlers) is a strong plusExperience with photonic test instrumentation