Manager, Optical Manufacturing Development Engineering (LPBF)

Location: On-site in Torrance, California, United States. Work takes place in office, laboratory, and manufacturing floor spaces, with occasional extended or weekend hours.

Salary: $150,020–$206,280 USD annually.

Company

Divergent develops integrated engineering and manufacturing solutions for demanding automotive, aerospace, and defense applications.

What you will do

• Lead optical subsystem integration and stabilization across LPBF machine builds from bring-up through production.
• Develop calibration procedures and verification methods to maintain performance through drift, wear, and environmental variation.
• Build and lead a small optics engineering team while remaining hands-on with builds, calibration, troubleshooting, and RCCA.
• Partner with hardware, controls/software, process engineering, and operations teams to resolve optical issues affecting quality, uptime, and throughput.
• Own work instructions, calibration procedures, acceptance criteria, test plans, and optical system health metrics.
• Support factory scale-up, process replication, technician training, and laser safety practices.

Requirements

• Ability to lawfully access technology subject to US export controls and authorization to work in the United States are required.
• Bachelor’s degree in optics, optical engineering, physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience with electro-optical or opto-mechanical system design, integration, or calibration.
• Experience developing and validating calibration and verification processes for optical or laser systems.
• Hands-on experience with high-power lasers, scanners/galvos, or beam delivery optics.
• Experience with RCCA, technical troubleshooting, documentation, and leading or mentoring engineers or technicians.

Nice to have

• Experience with LPBF or additive manufacturing systems.
• Experience with 0.5 kW+ lasers, beam shaping optics, or high-speed imaging systems.
• Knowledge of laser safety standards, PLM/MES, configuration management, and change control.
• Experience supporting factory scale-up or multi-site manufacturing deployment.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive compensation including salary, equity, and discretionary performance-based incentives.
• Paid vacation, sick time, company holidays, year-end shutdown, and paid parental leave.
• HMO and Premium PPO health plans, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Learning and development reimbursement opportunities.
• Collaborative, high-performing, mission-driven environment focused on manufacturing innovation and reducing environmental footprint.