Optical Engineer Staff

We are seeking an experienced Optical Engineer to develop, integrate, and test laser and electro-optical systems, primarily for space applications. You will independently lead optical design and modeling work, lead or support hands-on optical alignment, integration, and test, and collaborate across engineering disciplines to take hardware from design through verification. You will use your own engineering judgment to make key technical decisions with minimal direction, develop innovative solutions to complex optical problems, guide your assigned technical work to completion, and work closely with senior engineers, program leadership, and customers on significant technical matters.

Laser systems experience is required. Beyond that, we welcome candidates whose strengths lean toward design and modeling or toward hands-on integration and test, and we do not expect experience in every area listed below. Imaging systems and space flight experience are a plus.

Responsibilities:

•    Develop and evaluate optical designs for laser and electro-optical systems, including refractive, reflective, and catadioptric designs, from concept trades through detailed design.
•    Build optical models to predict system performance against requirements (e.g., beam propagation and beam quality for laser systems; image quality and radiometry for imaging systems).
•    Lead optical assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) for prototype and flight hardware, from alignment and test procedures through environmental testing.
•    Characterize optical performance (e.g., beam profile, M², pointing, and power for laser systems; wavefront and MTF for imaging systems) and correlate measurements with model predictions.
•    Troubleshoot optical performance anomalies in prototype and flight hardware, lead root-cause investigations, and recommend corrective design or process changes.
•    Derive optical requirements from system-level needs and allocate performance and tolerances through optical error budgets (e.g., wavefront error, pointing, boresight, throughput).
•    Analyze tolerances, sensitivities, and structural-thermal effects on optical performance (STOP), working with structural and thermal analysts, to guide fabrication, alignment, and integration.
•    Develop optical component specifications (including coating and laser damage threshold requirements) and support procurement and vendor acceptance.
•    Collaborate with systems, laser, mechanical, thermal, stray light, manufacturing, and test engineers to resolve optical interfaces and performance issues and to ensure designs are producible and testable.
•    Communicate technical findings and recommendations through analyses, internal and customer design reviews, and test reports.
•    Contribute to the development of new concepts, technology development efforts, and proposals by identifying innovative optical solutions.
•    Provide peer review and mentoring as appropriate while maintaining ownership of assigned technical work.

• Generally 5 or more years of related optical engineering experience.
• Experience designing, modeling, integrating, or testing laser optical systems (e.g., beam propagation, beam delivery or shaping, fiber or free-space coupling).
• Working knowledge of geometrical and physical optics, radiometry, and optical quality metrics (e.g., M² and wavefront error for laser systems, or MTF and encircled energy for imaging systems).
• Proficiency with Zemax OpticStudio or CODE V for optical design, analysis, and tolerancing.
• Experience performing engineering analysis and evaluating model or test data (e.g., using MATLAB, Python, or equivalent tools).
• Experience communicating technical results through written documentation and design review presentations.
• U.S. citizenship and the ability to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI security clearance.

• Bachelor's degree in optical engineering, physics, or related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Active Top Secret/SCI clearance, or active Top Secret clearance with eligibility for SCI or other required compartmented access.
• Experience leading optical AI&T of laser or electro-optical hardware, including alignment and environmental testing (e.g., vibration, thermal vacuum).
• Experience developing optics or optical hardware for space flight.
• Hands-on optical test experience (e.g., beam profiling, M², and power/energy for laser systems; interferometry and MTF for imaging systems), including troubleshooting measured performance.
• Experience with non-sequential and physical optics modeling (e.g., Zemax OpticStudio, FRED) for beam propagation, diffraction, ghost, or scatter analysis.
• Experience with high-power laser optics considerations, such as laser-induced damage threshold, contamination control, or thermal effects (e.g., thermal lensing).
• Experience applying tolerance, sensitivity, and structural-thermal-optical performance (STOP) analyses to hardware decisions.
• Understanding of stray light, ghost, and backscatter mitigation techniques (e.g., baffles, stops, coatings, tilted surfaces) and experience working with stray light analysts to implement design changes.
• Experience developing optical error budgets, radiometric or sensor performance models, or link budgets.
• Experience writing optical component specifications or statements of work, including optical material and coating selection, and working with optical vendors.
• Proficient in AI prompting as it applies to this position and practice