Staff Opto-Mechanical Engineer (L-PBF)

Location: On-site in Torrance, California, United States. The role spans office, optical laboratory, prototype-build, and manufacturing-floor environments and requires regular hands-on work with precision optical hardware and L-PBF machines. Candidates must be able to lawfully access information and technology subject to US export controls.

Pay range: $148,430–$204,090 USD annually, plus equity and discretionary results-based incentive bonus opportunities.

Company

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

What you will do

• Own the performance, reliability, calibration, and continued development of printer optics and beam-delivery systems.
• Lead root-cause investigations into focus, spot size, scan-field behavior, alignment, thermal drift, vibration, contamination, and mechanical stability.
• Develop optical error budgets, requirements, calibration strategies, acceptance criteria, and validation methods.
• Plan and lead optical characterization, prototype testing, design-of-experiments, and system validation.
• Collaborate with software, controls, service, process, manufacturing, quality, and suppliers to improve diagnostics, compensation, robustness, and fleet consistency.
• Design and release improvements to optical mounts, scanner integration, beam-delivery hardware, calibration systems, and precision mechanical structures while mentoring engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of relevant engineering experience or equivalent demonstrated technical capability.
• Experience owning or leading complex optical or opto-mechanical systems, including hands-on assembly, alignment, testing, calibration, characterization, and debugging.
• Strong understanding of geometric optics and laser-system fundamentals, plus experience designing precision mechanical hardware for optical alignment and stability.
• Strong capability in 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary technical work, communicate decisions clearly, mentor engineers, and establish technical standards and methods.

Nice to have

• Experience with laser powder bed fusion, laser-based manufacturing equipment, semiconductor equipment, metrology systems, or precision production machinery.
• Experience with high-power near-infrared lasers, galvanometer scanners, scan lenses, beam-conditioning optics, multi-laser systems, or optical performance characterization.
• Experience with machine calibration, coordinate transformations, compensation, precision metrology, calibration fixtures, alignment tooling, or automated optical characterization systems.
• Experience with Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, Siemens NX, Teamcenter, Class 4 laser safety, configuration management, or supplier development.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive compensation package with equity and discretionary results-based incentive bonuses.
• Paid vacation, sick time, company holidays, and a year-end shutdown.
• Paid parental leave and comprehensive HMO or Premium PPO health benefits.
• Company-sponsored life insurance and short- and long-term disability coverage.
• Learning and development reimbursement in a collaborative, high-performing, mission-driven manufacturing environment.