Optical Engineer Level 4

Join our fast-paced and passionate team as a Principal Optical Engineer. As we scale, you will be instrumental in building our foundation from the ground up. This is a dynamic, hands-on role for a self-starter who thrives in a fluid startup environment. You'll have the opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies, work closely with leadership, and develop and implement engineering practices that support our mission and growth. Your key responsibilities are as follows: Work independently and in a team while overcommunicating with the manager, project engineer, and teammates. Execute complex engineering tasks involving planning, preparation, data/information collection, and analysis and decision-making in a process involving peer reviews and documentation of the results. Use tenacity, patience, self-discipline, and passion for excellence to assure accuracy of execution schedule, data quality/integrity, conformance to company best practices, clarity in communication, and documentation Use every opportunity to grow competency through mentorship, curiosity, communication, exposure, and initiative Drive innovation in modeling, design, analysis, and alignment methods to support product roadmap Support project engineering with project scope, schedule, and risk analysis Requirements This position requires access to export-controlled information. Employment is contingent upon the applicant being a U.S. person as defined by 8 U.S.C. § 1324b(a)(3). Experience: A bachelor’s degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related field Minimum of 9 years of relevant experience, ideally within a startup or technology company. Skills: Deep understanding of laser beam propagation: how optic movement and rotation impact a beam’s near-field, far-field, beam quality, and fiber coupling efficiency Fluency applying ray-equivalent methods of laser propagation to guide architecture and debug layout questions Fluency determining the best way to answer a design problem, including combinations of design software, macros, external code, and manual calculations Ability to use paraxial raytracing and ABCD matrices to derive analytical expressions for trends, sensitivities, and scaling factors in various optical layouts Fluency in applying first-order imaging and the overlap integral of Gaussian beams to interrogate the design space of a laser module Understanding of how component properties impact alignment sensitivity (e.g. collimation lens focal length) Ability to take a novel optical design question, distill it to an algebraic method, and validate the analysis using a second calculation method (e.g. optical design software). Ability to turn exotic optical requirements into concrete analysis tasks (e.g. acousto-optic modulator RF tuning range, impact of thermal lensing) Fluency in applying first-order imaging and the overlap integral of Gaussian beams to derive component fabrication and alignment requirements Ability to derive…