Manufacturing Engineer - Optics

Location: San Diego, California, United States. Onsite role. Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance. Must meet applicable ITAR access eligibility requirements.

Base salary: $125,000–$145,000 annually. A California pay range of $85,000–$145,000 is also stated. Salary excludes benefits, bonus, and incentives.

Company

hirify.global develops defense, national security, and space technology solutions for mission-critical applications from ground to space.

What you will do

• Develop, document, validate, and improve manufacturing processes, work instructions, travelers, routings, tooling, fixtures, and production controls for optical and optomechanical hardware.
• Support new product introduction, prototype and pilot builds, production release, capacity planning, and sustaining production in the optics lab.
• Develop repeatable methods for optical cleaning, handling, bonding, mounting, alignment, focus adjustment, inspection, metrology, testing, and final integration.
• Translate optical drawings, tolerances, alignment and test requirements, and contamination controls into production documentation and acceptance criteria.
• Analyze yield, optical test results, defects, rework, cycle time, process capability, and production constraints; lead root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Collaborate with optical, mechanical, electrical, test, quality, supply chain, and program teams on manufacturability, tooling, nonconformances, supplier reviews, production readiness, risk reviews, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Knowledge of manufacturing process development, production documentation, root cause analysis, process validation, and continuous improvement methods.
• Working knowledge of optical assembly, alignment, inspection, metrology, precision handling, or optomechanical integration principles.
• Ability to interpret engineering and optical drawings, bills of material, specifications, work instructions, test data, and acceptance requirements.
• Strong communication, hands-on problem-solving, data analysis, and cross-functional coordination skills.
• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance at the level required for the position and applicable government contract.
• Appropriate access eligibility and need-to-know are required. ITAR compliance requires U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residence, protected-individual status, or eligibility to obtain the required authorizations.

Nice to have

• Experience in aerospace, defense, space, medical, laser, imaging, lidar, semiconductor, or other high-reliability optical manufacturing environments.
• Experience with production optical alignment, precision bonding, optical cleaning, contamination control, metrology, environmental testing, or failure analysis.
• Familiarity with interferometers, autocollimators, collimators, alignment telescopes, microscopes, power meters, beam profilers, coordinate measurement systems, or related optical laboratory equipment.
• Familiarity with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, PFMEA, control plans, statistical process control, measurement system analysis, process capability, and process validation.
• Experience with ERP/MRP, MES, PLM, CAD, data-acquisition systems, statistical analysis tools, MATLAB, Python, or similar engineering tools.
• Experience with AS9100, ISO 9001, NASA workmanship standards, cleanroom or contamination-control practices, ESD controls, or related production standards.

Culture & Benefits

• Mission-focused work in defense, national security, and space technology.
• Paid time off and a comprehensive health benefits package.
• Retirement savings program and wellness program.
• Discretionary annual bonus plan and other benefits.
• Work includes compliance with safety practices, quality procedures, configuration controls, customer requirements, and applicable industry standards.