Lead Flight Camera & Optical Payload Engineer

Impulse Space; Redondo Beach (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Impulse Space in Redondo Beach seeks a Senior Electro-Optical Engineer to own flight camera systems and optical payloads from architecture through test and flight. You will define how these hardware components are built, tested, and integrated, and you will drive critical decisions with high autonomy.

You will collaborate across embedded software, avionics, mechanical, thermal, and test teams to mature hardware, lead subsystem integration, and communicate technical status to leadership while

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in one of the listed engineering fields.
• 6+ years of hardware development experience in relevant domains.
• Experience owning a subsystem or major workstream.
• Ability to translate mission needs into hardware decisions and test plans.
• Hands-on hardware debugging in lab, integration, or production.

Responsibilities

• Own technical development of flight camera systems and optical payloads from concept through flight.
• Define requirements, drive architecture trades, and make key decisions across optics, detector selection, embedded camera interfaces, opto-mechanics, thermal design, and calibration strategy.
• Partner closely with embedded software, avionics, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, and test teams to bring up, validate, and mature hardware.
• Lead subsystem integration, test planning, issue resolution, and performance closure for electro‑optical flight hardware.
• Drive execution with a high degree of autonomy, including risk retirement, prioritization, vendor coordination, and communication of technical status to leadership.

Skills

Subsystem ownership

Hardware debugging

Cross-functional collaboration

Strong communication

6+ years experience

Camera systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Zemax OpticStudio

Code V

Job description

Impulse Space in Redondo Beach seeks a Senior Electro-Optical Engineer to own flight camera systems and optical payloads from architecture through test and flight. You will define how these hardware components are built, tested, and integrated, and you will drive critical decisions with high autonomy.

You will collaborate across embedded software, avionics, mechanical, thermal, and test teams to mature hardware, lead subsystem integration, and communicate technical status to leadership while