Optical Engineer (Laser Communications)

Location: On-site in San Carlos, California, United States. ITAR requirements apply: applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, protected individual, or eligible to obtain the required U.S. Department of State authorizations.

Salary: $120,000–$200,000 annually

Company

Building satellite infrastructure for orbital energy delivery, on-orbit computing, and secure high-bandwidth optical communications.

What you will do

• Design and optimize free-space optical assemblies, including beam expanders, collimators, and telescope interfaces.
• Build optical system models in Zemax or Code V, including tolerance and stray-light analyses.
• Define optical interfaces, alignment budgets, verification procedures, and test plans for opto-mechanical systems.
• Specify optical components, coatings, and filters; manage procurement and acceptance testing.
• Own optical coupling efficiency from the receive telescope to the fiber injection point.
• Perform STOP analyses and hands-on laboratory integration, alignment, and characterization.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience designing free-space optical systems.
• Proficiency with Zemax or Code V.
• Experience with custom optical component and coating specification, procurement, and acceptance testing.
• Experience with optical tolerance budgeting, Monte Carlo methods, alignment sensitivity, thermal/athermal analysis, STOP analysis, and multiphysics optical modeling.
• Hands-on experience aligning and characterizing optical assemblies, including fiber-to-free-space coupling and single-mode fiber injection.

Nice to have

• Master’s or PhD in Optical Engineering or Physics.
• 5+ years of aerospace or defense optical systems experience.
• Experience with free-space optical communications, adaptive optics, deployable or launch-survivable optical assemblies, and space-system environmental validation.
• Experience working in Class 4 laser laboratory environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Equity in hirify.global.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and eligible dependents.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan.
• Paid time off, 10 paid holidays, and paid parental leave.
• Relocation assistance where applicable.
• Daily office lunch and a stocked kitchen.