Computational Optics Engineer for Space Telescopes

Cosmic Frontier Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Cosmic Frontier Labs seeks a computational optics engineer to model, simulate, and improve the imaging performance of our space telescopes, and to connect those models to what we build and measure.

If you love turning physics into capability and can translate models into buildable hardware, we want to talk. You will stand up Python-based simulation pipelines and drive design decisions for on-orbit hardware.

Qualifications

• Strong education background in Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related field, plus 4 or more years building and owning imaging performance models for real hardware.
• Strong hands on experience with wavefront and image modeling, including PSF, MTF, WFE budgets, tolerancing, and stray light analysis.
• Proven ability to build simulation pipelines in Python and turn models into actionable design decisions.
• Track record of correlating models to lab data and closing the loop between design, build, and test.

Responsibilities

• Build and own wavefront and image performance models (PSF, MTF, WFE budgets) and make them useful for design decisions.
• Work on stray light modeling, tolerancing, and reconstruction methods where they actually buy performance.
• Correlate models to lab data, define acceptance tests, and help close the loop between design, build, and test.

Skills

Wavefront modeling

Image modeling

PSF

MTF

WFE budgets

Tolerancing

Stray light analysis

Python

Lab data correlation

Education

Optical Engineering or Physics degree

Tools

Python

Job description

Cosmic Frontier Labs seeks a computational optics engineer to model, simulate, and improve the imaging performance of our space telescopes, and to connect those models to what we build and measure.

If you love turning physics into capability and can translate models into buildable hardware, we want to talk. You will stand up Python-based simulation pipelines and drive design decisions for on-orbit hardware.