Lead Optical Engineer, Space Imaging & Stray Light

Veracity Ventures Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Veracity Ventures Inc. seeks a Lead Optical Engineer to drive design, analysis, and development of advanced optical and electro-optical systems for aerospace applications.

You will focus on stray light suppression, radiometric accuracy, and end-to-end performance in challenging space environments. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams across design, test, and verification, mature payload architectures, and communicate risks and trade-offs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; 9+ years experience; advanced degree preferred.
• 13+ years experience acceptable in lieu of degree.
• 2-3 years experience with optical stray light analysis tools (FRED).
• Ability to obtain a federal security clearance.

Responsibilities

• - Lead or support optical engineering activities for advanced imaging, sensing, and electro-optical systems.
• - Lead development of non-sequential stray light and radiometric models for active and passive imaging systems, including assessment of scattering, ghosting, and optical throughput for space-based payloads.
• - Support system performance analysis and verification of key optical requirements such as wavefront error, line of sight, distortion, focus, focal length, image quality, and related optical performance metrics.
• - Perform end-to-end optical performance analyses that connect design features to mission-level image quality, signal-to-noise, and sensitivity outcomes, and communicate resulting risks, margins, and mitigation recommendations to program teams.
• - Contribute to assessment of optical system behavior including ghosting, scattering, and stray light performance, as needed for system design and verification efforts.
• - Support design trades for baffles, stops, surface treatments, contamination control, and alignment strategies to reduce stray light and preserve radiometric and optical performance through integration, test, and environmental exposure.
• - Generate and review technical documentation including test plans, procedures, error budgets, requirements verification artifacts, design review materials, and final reports.
• - Collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to ensure optical designs are manufacturable, testable, and fully integrated into the broader system architecture.
• - Provide technical leadership in troubleshooting, root cause analysis, and resolution of optical performance issues during development and test.
• - Support hardware builds, laboratory demonstrations, integration efforts, and verification campaigns.
• - Interface with internal stakeholders, external partners, and suppliers to coordinate technical execution and ensure requirements are clearly understood and met.
• - Contribute to risk identification, mitigation planning, and continuous improvement of engineering processes and test methods.
• - Mentor junior engineers and provide guidance in optical analysis, test execution, and engineering best practices.

Skills

Optical engineering

Stray light analysis

Non-sequential analysis

Imaging systems

Wavefront error

Python

Matlab

CodeV

Zemax OpticStudio

FRED

Zi go Mx

Education

Bachelor's degree

Graduate degree

13+ years experience in lieu of degree

Tools

FRED

CodeV

Zygo Mx

QED.NET

Zemax OpticStudio

Job description

Veracity Ventures Inc. seeks a Lead Optical Engineer to drive design, analysis, and development of advanced optical and electro-optical systems for aerospace applications.

You will focus on stray light suppression, radiometric accuracy, and end-to-end performance in challenging space environments. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams across design, test, and verification, mature payload architectures, and communicate risks and trade-offs.