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Light Links
Diffused-laser optical wireless networking for robotics and defense
Last verified August 27, 2026 · Updated daily
What Light Links is building
Light Links builds Wi-OW, a wireless network that carries data on invisible infrared light instead of radio. The important word is diffused. Free-space optics has existed since the 1960s and has always had the same fatal constraint: it is point-to-point, so break the line of sight and the link dies. Wi-OW transmits diffused laser light that bounces off walls and ceilings, so the link survives a forklift, a robot arm, or a person walking through the beam. That is the engineering bet — trade some link budget for the ability to behave like a real wireless network rather than a fragile optical bridge. The numbers they publish are up to 25 Gbps symmetrical with microsecond-scale round-trip times, delivered over standard Ethernet components. Symmetrical and microsecond are both doing work in that sentence. A mobile robot on a factory floor is not downloading; it is running a control loop, and control loops care about deterministic latency far more than peak throughput. Wi-FI and 5G give you neither determinism nor an uncontested spectrum in a building full of machines that all radiate. The defense half of the product is a different argument from the same physics. Light does not leak the way RF does, so Wi-OW ships with an RF-silent HERO mode for low probability of intercept and low probability of detection, it is inherently jam-resistant, and it sidesteps the HERO compliance problems that make RF genuinely dangerous around ordnance — on an aircraft carrier deck, for instance. They also do high-accuracy identification of friend or foe for drones, which falls out of having an optical channel in the first place. The company's own framing on its site is that it exists "to solve the fundamental limits of radio frequency." That is a hardware company's thesis, and the team reflects it: physicists and optics engineers, not an app team with a radio strapped on.
Why this matters
Spectrum is a fixed resource and the number of things demanding it is not. Every autonomous warehouse adds robots that all need low-latency links in the same building, on the same bands, next to the same motor drives. Light Links' pitch to industrial customers is not speed, it is downtime: radio noise causes it, and light does not compete for the band. Firouz Vafadari's framing of the problem is the honest one — "wireless networks are no longer keeping pace with what we're asking them to do." The validation that matters at pre-seed is that a Fortune 50 company is already deploying Wi-OW in live operations. For a two-year-old hardware company, a production deployment inside a large enterprise is worth more than any benchmark, because it means someone's operations team signed off on a novel physical layer. The investor composition says which market they think closes first. Outlander led with Anorak, Output Capital, Mana and Crosscourt alongside — a dual-use and defense-tech syndicate whose portfolios include Anduril and SpaceX. That is not a group that funds a better office Wi-Fi. It is a group betting that RF-silent, jam-resistant links become procurement requirements rather than nice-to-haves, and that the industrial deployments fund the company while that happens.
Open roles at Light Links
3 positions we're tracking. Roles are re-checked daily and removed when filled.
Optical / Photonics Engineer (inferred — diffused laser transceiver design)
First seen today
Embedded & Networking Engineer (inferred — Ethernet-attached, microsecond-latency data path)
First seen today
Manufacturing / Test Engineer (inferred — the round is explicitly to scale production)
First seen today
Know when Light Links is hiring before anyone else
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching Light Links
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+Hiring outlook
Stated intent is clear — the round is explicitly to scale production and expand deployments across industrial automation and defense — but there is no careers page and no posted roles. The public team page lists four people, all executives: CEO, CTO, CSO, COO. A hardware company moving from validated prototype to production with $6M and no visible IC team is about to hire; it just has not built the hiring surface yet.
Working at Light Links
Since 2024, Light Links has built Diffused-laser optical wireless networking for robotics and defense. The team is now people. For a Tech company this size, the reality is opportunity to shape your role based on the company stage.
The majority of roles are in Campbell, California, USA.
How to actually get hired at Light Links
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
Light Links runs an applicant tracking system, but hiring managers still work referrals first. A cold application to Light Links isn't dead, it's just fourth in line behind internal referrals, sourced candidates and recruiter pipelines.
Who to contact at Light Links
What to show them
Do the link-budget math they are implicitly claiming and show your work. Model a diffused infrared link in a realistic warehouse volume: reflectance off painted concrete and steel decking, multipath spread and the intersymbol interference it implies at high symbol rates, ambient IR from sunlight and lighting, and eye-safety limits at the transmit power your budget requires. Publish the envelope where 25 Gbps symmetrical is achievable and where it is not. Being right about the hard boundary is more impressive than being enthusiastic about the easy one.
A cold email that works at Light Links
What Light Links screens for
A defense and dual-use syndicate led by Outlander wrote a $6M pre-seed into a company whose product is a new physical layer, with a Fortune 50 deployment already live. Pre-seed hardware with a paying enterprise deployment is a rare combination, and it compresses the hiring window: the money is for production, and production hiring happens over months not years. There is no careers page, which means there is also no applicant pile — the entire pipeline right now is inbound from people who found them. For an optics, RF or embedded engineer, that is the best possible market inefficiency: a company that clearly needs you and has not yet built the funnel that buries you.
Customize your CV for the Light Links role. Matching the job description language helps clear ATS filters.
Don't make these mistakes
Do not open with generic photonics or laser-comms enthusiasm. Firouz has a networking Ph.D., previously founded two IoT and networking companies, and sits on the selection committee for UC Berkeley's SkyDeck — he screens pitches for a living and will read boilerplate as boilerplate. Also do not treat this as free-space optics with better marketing: the entire technical claim is that diffused optics escapes the line-of-sight constraint that killed classic FSO, and Heinz Willebrand literally wrote the book on free-space optics. If your note implies point-to-point FSO, you have told them you did not read the site. Lead with a specific RF failure you have personally debugged on a factory floor or in a lab.
Mistakes that kill Light Links applications
A recycled CV gets rejected fast at Light Links ( people). They notice.
Skip 'I'm looking for...' — start with Spectrum is a fixed resource and the number of things demanding it is not and your specific angle on solving it.
The wait-and-hope strategy fails. Follow up on day five — response rates roughly double.
Applying to Light Links? Get the contact, not the form.
The Light Links interview process
4 stages · 14 days typical · take-home: no · modelled from similar companies
We don't yet have verified candidate reports for Light Links. What follows is the typical process for a -person Tech company — treat it as a model, not confirmed detail.
Interview stages
Recruiter Screen
Phone or video · 30 min
Basic qualification and logistics
Recruiter or HR
Hiring Manager Interview
Video call · 45 min
Role fit and experience deep-dive
Hiring manager
Technical/Functional Round
Video call · 60 min
Skills assessment and problem-solving
Team members
Final Round
In-person or video · 60 min
Culture fit and cross-functional alignment
Senior leadership
Light Links interview timeline
Timeline: ~ days. That's about average than the Tech median (14 days at people).
Interviewed at Light Links?
Tell us how it went — stages, questions, timeline. Takes 90 seconds and it's how this page stays accurate for the next person.
Submit your Light Links interview experience →Light Links jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does Light Links have open?
3 open roles at Light Links, last checked August 2026.
Does Light Links hire remotely?
Light Links doesn't have remote openings at the moment. All roles are in Campbell, California, USA.
What roles is Light Links hiring for?
Light Links is hiring across Engineering. The most recent opening is Optical / Photonics Engineer (inferred — diffused laser transceiver design).
How do I apply for a job at Light Links?
Use the apply links above, or check our guide to getting hired at Light Links.
Does Light Links respond to cold emails?
Response rate data for Light Links not yet confirmed.
Who is the hiring manager at Light Links?
At this size, hiring is usually run by the hiring manager.
How competitive is it to get hired at Light Links?
Expect 100-250 applicants in the first two weeks for Tech roles at this size. Apply within 72 hours for best odds.
How many rounds is the Light Links interview?
4 stages: Recruiter Screen, Hiring Manager Interview, Technical/Functional Round, Final Round.
Is the Light Links interview hard?
Focus on relevant experience and culture fit, not puzzles. Final Round is reportedly the most challenging round.
Does Light Links give a take-home task?
No, Light Links does not include a take-home stage.
How long does Light Links take to get back to you?
Around 14 days across the full process.
What should I prepare for the Light Links interview?
relevant experience and culture fit is the priority. Show you can work autonomously — that matters more than algorithms at people.
Where is Light Links based?
Light Links is headquartered in Campbell, California, USA.
Get Light Links roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching Light Links
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+