Principal Optical Engineer

The Hardware Engineering Group is seeking strong candidates for a Principal Optical Engineer to serve as a senior individual contributor to the company’s mission of building state‑of‑the‑art, manufacturable, and deployable neutral atom quantum computers. The Hardware Engineering Group plays a crucial role in accelerating the company’s technology leadership and translating the company’s scientific breakthroughs into products delivered to customers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Optical module design and development
• Work with physicists to understand requirements and architect optical systems, sub-systems, modules, and components to support a neutral atom computer through the full development lifecycle (R&D, productization, maintenance, and beyond).
• Technically lead an interdisciplinary team of engineers (optical, electronic, mechanical, etc.) through the product development process to take an optical module from early phase concept through to implementation and production.
• Advance state‑of‑the‑art engineering practices through independent research, problem‑solving, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Coordinate closely with the R&D/science team to enable cutting‑edge R&D and translate scientific advances into the next generation of products.
• Troubleshoot technical issues at company headquarters and off‑site installations at customer locations (in coordination with local support team).

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in optics, optical engineering, applied physics, or a closely related field.
• 10-15 years non-academic work experience. Experience at an enterprise scale as well as startup preferred.
• Deep experience and knowledge of: Free‑space optics, Lens design, Fiber optics, Lasers, Optical system characterization and testing and Optomechanics.
• Experience bringing complex optical systems from concept to production
• Expertise with using Mechanical CAD software (e.g. Inventor, Solidworks), Product Data Management (PDM) software, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software
• Expertise with Optical simulation software (e.g. Zemax)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with quantum computing, especially neutral atom
• Professional work experience in commercial product development and off‑site product deployment at customer premises.