Electrical Engineer, Photonics & High-Speed Hardware

Beacon Photonics; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Employee stock ownership

Health, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) matching

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Beacon Photonics, a dynamic Arlington, VA startup, is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to build internal EE infrastructure and lead hands-on development of fieldable PCBAs on a high-performance photonics platform.

Ideal candidates have 9+ years (varies by degree) in hardware design, strong Altium skills, and hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes and signal generators. You will work with cross-functional teams to ship robust, laser‑drive electronics and high-speed interfaces.

Qualifications

• B.S./M.S./Ph.D. in electrical/computer engineering with 9+, 6+, or 3+ years of hardware design experience.
• Proficiency with EDA tools for schematic capture and PCB layout (Altium preferred).
• Proven track record designing, simulating, laying out, and bringing up multi-layer PCBs.
• Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, signal generators.
• Experience programming microcontrollers (C) and/or FPGAs (VHDL/Verilog).
• Design of low-noise analog circuits, PID temperature controls, and current sources.

Responsibilities

• Build and stand up internal EE infrastructure, workflows, and lab capabilities.
• Lead the design, simulation, and layout of advanced electronic hardware and PCBAs.
• Design low-noise, high-precision laser drivers, control loops, and biasing circuitry.
• Create high-speed control hardware to interface directly with photonic integrated circuits.
• Deliver fieldable optical microsystems incorporating electronics and FPGAs / µCs.
• Manage fabrication, component, and assembly vendors for rapid hardware prototyping.
• Collaborate with photonics and packaging engineers to guide product development.

Skills

PCB design

FPGA

MCU programming

Lab instrumentation

Analog circuit design

PID control

RF design

Firmware

Education

Electrical Engineering degree (B.S./M.S./Ph.D.)

Tools

Altium

Job description

Beacon Photonics, a dynamic Arlington, VA startup, is seeking an experienced Electrical Engineer to build internal EE infrastructure and lead hands-on development of fieldable PCBAs on a high-performance photonics platform.

Ideal candidates have 9+ years (varies by degree) in hardware design, strong Altium skills, and hands-on lab experience with oscilloscopes and signal generators. You will work with cross-functional teams to ship robust, laser‑drive electronics and high-speed interfaces.