Senior Optical Engineer - Stray Light (DUV)

Location: Full-time onsite role based at the headquarters in Denver, Colorado, United States.

Salary: $160,000–$200,000 per year.

Company

hirify.global develops inertial fusion energy technology and advanced laser architectures to enable clean fusion power plants and support global decarbonization.

What you will do

• Perform non-sequential ray tracing, primarily with FRED, to analyze stray light, ghost reflections, scattering, and diffraction in high-energy DUV laser systems.
• Identify and mitigate high-fluence hot spots and fringing effects to prevent optical damage and improve system longevity.
• Model and evaluate baffles, apertures, beam dumps, and other mechanical stray-light mitigation features.
• Develop scripts in Python, MATLAB, or FRED Script to automate simulations, process ray-trace data, interface with analysis tools, and quantify signal degradation.
• Collaborate with sequential optical designers, opto-mechanical engineers, material scientists, and optical systems engineers to define, validate, and meet stray-light requirements.
• Evaluate BSDF/BRDF behavior, surface roughness, UV-resilient absorptive coatings, and materials for inertial confinement fusion systems.

Requirements

• B.S. or M.S. degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related field.
• At least 5 years of dedicated experience in stray-light analysis and non-sequential optomechanical modeling.
• Expert proficiency in non-sequential optical design software, with strong preference for FRED.
• Experience writing scripts to automate optical analysis and process ray-trace data.
• Strong knowledge of stray-light mitigation, physical optics, scattering, BSDF/BRDF, and diffraction.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident, or lawfully admitted refugee or asylee.

Nice to have

• Ph.D. in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• Eight or more years of experience with high-energy laser systems or DUV applications.
• Experience with LIDT, DUV material fluorescence, ICF or high-fluence beam delivery systems, and stray-light measurement instrumentation.
• Experience importing and managing complex CAD geometry in FRED or similar non-sequential optical simulation environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Basic and supplemental life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Paid parental leave, paid sick time, 13 company-paid holidays, and an annual paid company shutdown.
• Flexible paid time off and a 401(k) with a company match of up to 6%.
• Eligible employees may receive equity, with benefits eligibility varying by employment status.