--- title: 'Optical PLL Research Intern at Taara' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/optical-pll-research-intern-taara-sunnyvale-f09xrc2ex19m' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-11-07' --- # Optical PLL Research Intern at Taara - **Company:** Taara - **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-11-04 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-07 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/taaraconnect/06d29a2a-9913-4c52-b1ba-9236ca086acb ## Job description About Taara: Born at X, Google's Moonshot Factory, Taara is on a mission to connect billions of people lacking abundant and affordable internet today by pioneering the way we use light to deliver faster, cheaper, more reliable connectivity. We are bringing groundbreaking wireless optical communication and photonics chip technologies to the world to bridge the digital divide. Joining Taara allows you to work as part of a multidisciplinary team of experts in optics, software, and hardware, all collaborating to solve the hardest connectivity challenges on a global scale. If you want to tackle problems that matter and build tools with real-world impact, we would love to meet you. About the Role: As an Optical PLL Research Intern, you will lay the groundwork for an integrated optical phase-locked loop (OPLL) that locks an external laser for coherent reception in next-generation wireless optical links. This is a long-term project spanning lab and simulation, ideally a year or more. It could also anchor a thesis or a longer-term collaboration. What such a loop can achieve is bounded by real components. You will evaluate lasers, modulators, and analog electronics, build benchtop experiments around them, and work toward a stable closed loop. In parallel, you will extend our simulation and use the two to check each other. There is genuine room to shape the direction. Survey what is available, design your own experiments, and follow the evidence to the strongest design. How you will make 10X Impact: - Component Evaluation: Screen commercial lasers, modulators, and photodetectors. Measure what vendors do not publish. - Loop Design: Design the loops that track carrier phase and frequency, and validate them against control theory. - Chip Requirements: Define what the integrated OPLL needs from its laser, electronics, and loop. - Physical-Layer Simulation: Extend our model of the link and reconcile it with measurement. What you should have: - Currently pursuing a Master's or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, Optics, Communications, or a related field. - A strong background in analog and RF electronics and circuit design, including noise, bandwidth, and delay analysis. - Hands-on lab experience with lasers, modulators, photodetectors, and high-speed test equipment. - Control theory applied on hardware: closing feedback loops and diagnosing oscillation, drift, or loss of lock. - Working knowledge of digital communications and signal processing. - Availability of at least 6 months, ideally 12 or more, and three days per week in the Sunnyvale office. It'd be great if you also had one or more of these: - Laser Locking: Frequency stabilization, tunable sources, phase-locked loops, carrier recovery, or coherent detection. - Photodetection & Front-End Electronics: Photoreceiver, TIA, or high-speed circuit design. - Numerical Methods: Scientific Python (NumPy, SciPy, JAX), phase-noise modeling, or cycle-slip statistics. - Domain Knowledge: Optical or RF communications, photonics, or fading channels. What we offer: - Competitive salary: $7,000–$10,000/month depending on degree. - Flexible duration to fit your academic schedule. - Direct mentorship from industry-leading engineers in a "moonshot" environment. - Opportunity to work on technology that has the potential to change how billions of people access the internet. ## About Taara ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Taara uses invisible beams of light to deliver high-speed, low-latency wireless internet connectivity, acting as a fiber alternative for hard-to-reach areas. - **Entity Type**: Private (spun out from X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory in March 2025; backed by Series X Capital, with Alphabet retaining a minority stake) - **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, USA - **Founded**: 2025 (spin-out); predecessor Project Taara began in 2017 - **Founders**: Mahesh Krishnaswamy ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Telecommunications technology / Free-space optical communications - **Target customers**: B2B – mobile operators, wireless ISPs, fiber operators, enterprises, smart city operators, government/emergency response, and innovation partners (satellite operators, photonics companies) - **Mission**: “Bringing high-speed, affordable and abundant connectivity to people everywhere using beams of light.” ## Products & Services - **Taara Lightbridge**: Free-space optical terminal delivering up to 20 Gbps over line-of-sight distances up to 20 km with carrier-grade availability. Used for backhaul, fronthaul, and mesh. - **Taara Lightbridge Pro**: Enhanced version offering “five nines” (99.999%) availability for mission-critical networks. - **Taara Beam**: First product built on Taara's Integrated Photonics Platform, designed for expansion with flexibility in a smaller form factor. - **Integrated Photonics Platform**: Silicon photonics chip that uses light to transmit data through the air, enabling miniaturized terminals and reduced mechanical complexity. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding – undisclosed round led by Series X Capital at spin-out (2025); Alphabet retains minority stake - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Series X Capital, Alphabet (via X Development); strategic partners include T‑Mobile, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Econet Group, Digicomm International - **Growth Signals**: Deployments in over 20 countries across Africa, India, North America, and Southeast Asia; recognized as TIME Best Invention of 2024 and Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award; successful live events connectivity (Coachella, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with T‑Mobile) ## Competitive Advantages - **No trenching or spectrum licensing**: Light beams travel through air, avoiding costly fiber deployment and radio spectrum constraints. - **Rapid deployment**: Can be deployed in hours instead of months – ideal for disaster recovery and temporary capacity. - **Silicon photonics platform**: Proprietary chip technology that shrinks hardware and lowers cost, enabling mass scalability. - **Fiber-class performance**: Delivers symmetrical 20 Gbps+ with ultra-low latency, competing directly with fiber in capacity. ## Strategic Focus - **Expand photonics-based connectivity** beyond telecom into data centers, industrial campuses, and satellite communications. - **Scale manufacturing** of its Integrated Photonics Platform to serve global demand. - **Deepen partnerships** with mobile operators, internet service providers, and government entities to close the digital divide. ## Why Work Here - **Innovation pedigree**: Born inside X (Google’s Moonshot Factory) – a culture of tackling world-scale challenges with ambitious technology. - **Mission-driven impact**: Work directly on bringing affordable internet to underserved communities and disaster zones. - **Cutting-edge tech**: Hands-on with advanced photonics, optical engineering, and system-level hardware/software design. - **Growth phase**: Recently spun out as an independent company – opportunity to shape engineering culture and processes from an early stage. - **Hybrid/office**: Based in Sunnyvale, CA; roles range from hardware engineering (optical, mechanical, FPGA) to software (backend, Linux, cloud) and go-to-market (sales, customer success). Per company careers page: open roles include Principal Optical Engineer, Director of Product Management, Senior Backend Software Engineer, etc. - **Perks & culture**: Described as “a new technological era” with a focus on collaboration, rapid iteration, and global impact. ## Sources 1. [taaraconnect.com](https://www.taaraconnect.com/) – Homepage product details 2. [taaraconnect.com/careers](https://www.taaraconnect.com/careers) – Open roles and engineering focus 3. [taaraconnect.com/about](https://www.taaraconnect.com/about) – Leadership, history, milestones 4. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taara_(company)) – Company overview, spin-out, funding, deployments ## Other roles at Taara - [Principal Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-analog-mixed-signal-asic-design-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-ffk1rv9t71fb) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Lead Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-analog-mixed-signal-asic-design-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-esst4g51npkn) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Director of Product Management - Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-product-management-hardware-taara-sunnyvale-c8wndxcamgwn) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Product Manager- Software Products](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-software-products-taara-sunnyvale-dnd5wap2pznn) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Strategic Finance Senior Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-finance-senior-manager-taara-sunnyvale-bgwdr6gwt6dj) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Senior Technical Escalations Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-escalations-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-ed981hzfns48) — Sunnyvale, CA - [UX Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/ux-designer-taara-sunnyvale-yv72apvqqeva) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Senior High-Speed Photonic Design Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-high-speed-photonic-design-engineer-taara-sunnyvale-0efpz5qbbqra) — Sunnyvale, CA - [Director Business Development & Partnerships](https://feeny.ai/job/director-business-development-partnerships-taara-united-states-tmh6fjph8hk3) — United States - [Director of Optical and Mechanical](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-optical-and-mechanical-taara-sunnyvale-xrh63xxgm2nd) — Sunnyvale, CA