Impactful Optics & Sensor Engineering Co-op

Draper; Massachusetts; On-site; USD 28,000 - 62,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work hours

Employee clubs

Work-life balance programs

Discounts to local museums

Job summary

Draper, an independent nonprofit R&D organization in Cambridge, MA, seeks optics-physics sensor engineering co-ops and interns for a 6‑month program (January–June 2027).

You will support R&D on precision inertial guidance and imaging instruments, contributing to optical design, thermal modeling, and hardware assembly. Proficiency with LabVIEW, MATLAB, SolidWorks, and Python is expected.

Qualifications

• Physics, materials science, or electrical engineering student with a minimum GPA of 3.0.
• Hands-on lab experience preferred.
• Desirable: optical design, thermal control, circuit theory, Python, MATLAB.

Responsibilities

• Support R&D for precision inertial guidance and imaging instruments.
• Test and evaluate optical and photonic components; assist in design and fabrication of evaluation setups.
• Perform hardware assembly, testing, and debugging; contribute to modeling and simulations.

Skills

Physics background

Electrical engineering

Hands-on experience

Lab experience

Education

Physics/Materials/Electrical Eng student

Tools

LabVIEW

MATLAB

SolidWorks

COMSOL

Python

GitLab

Job description

Draper, an independent nonprofit R&D organization in Cambridge, MA, seeks optics-physics sensor engineering co-ops and interns for a 6‑month program (January–June 2027).

You will support R&D on precision inertial guidance and imaging instruments, contributing to optical design, thermal modeling, and hardware assembly. Proficiency with LabVIEW, MATLAB, SolidWorks, and Python is expected.