AR Waveguide Engineer — Experimental Optics (12‑month)

Snap; Abingdon; On-site; GBP 93,000 - 116,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid parental leave

Comprehensive medical coverage

Emotional and mental health support

Job summary

Snap Inc. is seeking an Optical Engineer for the Waveguide Experiments team on a 12‑month fixed‑term contract. You will develop experimental methods, build optical setups, automate measurements, and analyze waveguide data to advance AR waveguide performance.

Required strong optics foundation, interferometry, Python data analysis, and hands‑on lab experience. Competitive salary £93,000–£116,000 with a collaborative, office‑based environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related Engineering field.
• 3+ years of hands‑on research experience in optical metrology.

Responsibilities

• Develop new experimental methods to deepen understanding of AR waveguide physics.
• Build and apply models of optical and physical phenomena to interpret lab experiments.
• Design, build, and automate optical setups.
• Run experimental analysis of waveguides using both proprietary and commercial tools.
• Perform root cause analysis of failures of waveguide displays.
• Perform experiments on diffractive nanostructures to improve correlation between measurements and predictions.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional engineering teams on waveguide bring‑up, debugging, and performance improvement.

Skills

Optics theory

Polarization theory

Interferometry

Python data analysis

Lab experiments

Waveguide systems

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Optical Engineering/Physics/Electrical Engineering

PhD in Optical Engineering or related field

Tools

Zemax

CodeV

FRED

ASAP

Lumerical

COMSOL

Job description

Snap Inc. is seeking an Optical Engineer for the Waveguide Experiments team on a 12‑month fixed‑term contract. You will develop experimental methods, build optical setups, automate measurements, and analyze waveguide data to advance AR waveguide performance.

Required strong optics foundation, interferometry, Python data analysis, and hands‑on lab experience. Competitive salary £93,000–£116,000 with a collaborative, office‑based environment.