Astera Labs Inc.
Tech Lead Optical Test Engineer
San Jose, California, United States · Senior
Stay score
odds of building a lasting career here
Sponsors, but it's cap-subject — you still face the weighted lottery (~61% per draw at Level IV). Good if you win; have a cap-exempt backup on your list.
Lottery odds assume a STEM candidate.
Personalize to your clock →H-1B wage level
the lottery is wage-weighted — each level is one more entry
$5,445 more — $190,445 — moves this role to Level IV and 4 lottery entries. That figure is inside the range the employer already advertised.
Based on the DOL prevailing wage for this occupation and worksite, a base salary of $190,445 would place this position at wage Level IV. That figure is within the posted range, and I'd like to target it. This role classifies under "Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers" for prevailing-wage purposes.
DOL prevailing wage, 2026-27 wage year · Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers (15-1253) · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. Wage level is derived by USCIS from the offered wage, occupation and worksite; the occupation shown is inferred from the job title.
Employer immigration record
from this employer's Department of Labor filings
Files H-1B transfers
Sourced from Department of Labor LCA, PERM and prevailing-wage disclosure data. Employer matching is by name, so figures may be split across an employer's legal entities. Absence of a filing means none appears in our copy of the data, not that none exists.
Community outcomes
No reports yet — be the first to help the next applicant.
About the role
- We are seeking a motivated and hands-on Tech Lead - Optical Test Engineer to contribute to the development and deployment of optical test solutions for silicon photonics devices and optical modules. This role will support definition of test methodologies, drive key portions of test development, and lead technical efforts within a broader test organization.
- The ideal candidate has solid experience in optical testing, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to collaborate across teams to enable efficient characterization, validation, and production testing.
- We are seeking a motivated and hands-on Tech Lead - Optical Test Engineer to contribute to the development and deployment of optical test solutions for silicon photonics devices and optical modules.
Responsibilities
- Define and implement optical test architectures and test flows across optical wafer probe test, package level test & characterization and optical module validation.
- Perform high-speed optical measurements including insertion loss, return loss, extinction ratio, eye diagram analysis, BER testing, and optical modulation amplitude (OMA).
- Design and build optical test stations incorporating fiber alignment systems, optical switches, tunable lasers, optical spectrum analyzers, high-speed oscilloscopes, and BER testers.
- Develop test automation software, automated test scripts & frameworks using Python, LabVIEW, MATLAB, or similar platforms.
- Implement high-throughput test solutions suitable for wafer-scale and production-level testing.
- Collaborate with design and process engineering teams to provide feedback for performance optimization.
- Create and maintain test documentation, SOPs, and knowledge base articles.
- Participate in design reviews to ensure testability and provide DFT (Design for Test) recommendations.
- This role will support definition of test methodologies, drive key portions of test development, and lead technical efforts within a broader test organization.
Requirements
- 5-7+ years of experience in optical testing, photonic device characterization, or optical transceiver development.
- Strong understanding of silicon photonics devices (modulators, photodetectors, multiplexers, grating couplers, edge couplers).
- Hands-on experience with optical test equipment: OSA, OMA, tunable lasers, polarization controllers, power meters, high-speed real-time oscilloscopes, BERT/pattern generators.
- Proficiency in high-speed optical link testing (100G/lane and above, PAM4, NRZ).
- Knowledge of optical communication standards (IEEE 802.3, OIF-CEI, CMIS).
Compensation
- $185k-$240k
This listing is sourced directly from Astera Labs Inc.'s careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.