Optical & System Designer – Illumination (m/f/x)

Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH; Oberkochen; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH in Germany is seeking an experienced optics designer (PhD preferred) to develop and optimize optical systems for the next generation of lithography equipment, delivering high-precision performance. You will work across mechanical, electronic, and optics teams to translate complex requirements into robust designs.

The role requires strong analytical and numerical skills, proficiency in ray tracing and optimization, and the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Physics, Optics, Photonics, or related field.
• Academic or industry experience; postdoc is a plus but not required.
• Basic knowledge of scientific programming (Matlab, Python).
• Experience designing optical systems with ray-tracing and optimizers.
• Strong curiosity about lithography systems physics and modeling.

Responsibilities

• Design optics for new products or generations and optimize performance.
• Translate interdisciplinary requirements into robust optics and system designs.
• Collaborate with mechanics, electronics, and other optics-design teams.

Skills

Ray-tracing methods

Automated optimizers

Scientific programming

Communication skills

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Education

Master’s or PhD in Physics/Optics/Photonics

Tools

Zemax/OpticStudio

CodeV

Matlab

Python

Job description

Enabler for smaller, more powerful, and more energy-efficient microchips Working for tomorrow today. Around 80 percent of all microchips worldwide are produced using ZEISS technologies. As the centerpiece of every electronically controlled system, they have become an integral part of our everyday lives – whether in smartphones, smart homes or smart factories. ZEISS is a technology leader in the field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. With high-precision lithography optics, photomask systems and process control solutions, ZEISS enables the production of ever smaller, increasingly powerful, and more energy-efficient microchips, and thus plays a pivotal role in the age of micro- and nanoelectronics. Do you want to design optical systems that do not yet exist? In the Illumination Optical and System Design team, we work on the physical questions behind the world's most precise optical systems — for the next generation of semiconductor lithography. If you are passionate about physics and want to make full use of genuine technological freedom in design, this is the right place for you.

Your Role

• You design optics for new products or generations, optimize their functionality, and ensure the optical performance of our systems—analytically, numerically, and in close collaboration with colleagues from mechanics, electronics, and other optics-design teams.
• As a team member, you translate complex, interdisciplinary requirements—thermal influences, packaging constraints, and manufacturing limits—into robust optics and system designs.
• You bring initiative, challenge existing approaches, and actively contribute to continually rethinking solutions.

Your Profile

• Completed science-based Master’s degree or PhD (preferably Physics, Optics, Photonics, or related fields)
• Professional experience in academia or industry (e.g., as a Postdoc) is a plus but not required
• Basic knowledge of scientific programming (e.g., Matlab, Python)
• Experience in designing optical systems, both imaging and non-imaging optics, with ray-tracing methods and automated optimizers — the specific tool is secondary (e.g., Zemax/OpticStudio, CodeV, etc.)
• Strong natural science curiosity and willingness to independently dive deep into the physics of lithography systems and their modeling
• Experience with AI methods (e.g., for optimization or data analysis) is welcome but not required
• Communication strength: you can explain complex technical concepts to colleagues from other disciplines
• Enjoyment of self-motivated, structured work and learning in an interdisciplinary team

Your ZEISS Recruiting Team: Matthias Sonnentag

Step out of your comfort zone, excel and redefine the limits of what is possible. That’s just what our employees are doing every single day – in order to set the pace through our innovations and enable outstanding achievements. After all, behind every successful company are many great fascinating people. In a spacious modern setting full of opportunities for further development, ZEISS employees work in a place where expert knowledge and team spirit reign supreme. All of this is supported by a special ownership structure and the long-term goal of the Carl Zeiss Foundation: to bring science and society into the future together.

Diversity is a part of ZEISS.

We look forward to receiving your application regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, philosophy of life, disability, age, sexual orientation or identity.