Principal Adaptive Optics Engineer

Location: Denver, Colorado, United States; full-time onsite at headquarters

Salary: $190,000–$220,000 per year

Company

hirify.global develops inertial fusion energy technology and advanced laser architectures to deploy fusion power plants for global decarbonization.

What you will do

• Lead the adaptive optics system from requirements definition through integration, commissioning, and reliable operation.
• Define system requirements and performance budgets for wavefront sensors, deformable mirrors, real-time controllers, and diagnostics.
• Lead architecture decisions and trade studies for high-bandwidth, low-latency correction systems integrated into laser or photon beamlines.
• Develop technical specifications, statements of work, and acceptance criteria for vendor-supplied hardware and software.
• Direct vendor design reviews, factory acceptance tests, delivery milestones, and resolution of performance or integration issues.
• Define laboratory and in-situ test plans and coordinate integration with beamline, controls, and laser-system teams.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in optics, physics, electrical engineering, or a closely related field.
• At least 8 years of experience in adaptive optics, wavefront sensing and control, or high-speed optical control systems.
• Hands-on experience with laser propagation, beam quality, wavefront control, deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, and high-bandwidth feedback control.
• Experience specifying, integrating, and testing adaptive optics hardware and real-time control systems in laboratory or operational environments.
• Experience working directly with external vendors on custom optical and electro-optical systems.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted refugee or asylee.

Nice to have

• Experience with directed-energy systems, including high-power or high-intensity laser platforms.
• Experience delivering custom adaptive optics systems from concept through commissioning.
• Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical teams.
• Familiarity with real-time software, FPGA-based control, or low-latency computing architectures.
• Experience in high-reliability laboratory and operational environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus basic and supplemental life insurance.
• Short- and long-term disability coverage and paid parental leave.
• 401(k) with company matching of up to 6% and eligible equity participation.
• Flexible paid time off, paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown.
• Collaborative engineering environment focused on fusion science, tough technology, manufacturing, and rapid execution.

Hiring process

• Applications may be supported by AI-assisted review, resume analysis, and response assessment.
• Final hiring decisions are made by human reviewers.