Optical Engineer - Advanced HAMR Optics

Headway Technologies; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 121,000 - 178,000; Full time

Job summary

Headway Technologies in Milpitas, CA, seeks an Optical Engineer to design and mature advanced optical delivery systems for HAMR heads. You will lead simulations, experiments, and cross-functional collaboration to translate new ideas into scalable product solutions.

The role requires a strong background in optical engineering, silicon photonics, and plasmonics, with hands-on testing and modeling. Collaboration across US, Japan, and China is expected, with a focus on robustness and

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Optical Engineering or Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and/or equivalent relevant experience; PhD preferred.
• Two years of experience in optics, plasmonics, silicon photonics, optical chip design, or related field.
• Knowledge of laser package design and assembly is a plus.
• Hands-on optical testing including transmittance, reflectance and far-field diffraction.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate innovative optical design concepts for HAMR light delivery systems (waveguides, tapers, couplers, mode converters, surface plasmon excitation).
• Perform advanced optical simulations using Lumerical, Tidy3D, and COMSOL to model field propagation, coupling efficiency, loss mechanisms, and design tradeoffs.
• Apply inverse design and computational photonics to explore new design spaces and improve coupling efficiency and field confinement.
• Collaborate with process, test, metrology, and product engineering to translate ideas into scalable product solutions.
• Coordinate with testing to characterize laser diode, light path, waveguide behavior, and NFT performance; translate findings into design changes.
• Conduct FMEA and failure analysis to guide HAMR head design and roadmaps.

Skills

Optical design

Modeling & simulation

Optical testing

Generative AI

Team collaboration

Documentation

Education

Master's in Optical Engineering

Master's in Electrical Engineering

Applied Physics degree

PhD preferred

Tools

Lumerical

COMSOL

Tidy3D

TEM

EELS

XPS

Job description

Headway Technologies in Milpitas, CA, seeks an Optical Engineer to design and mature advanced optical delivery systems for HAMR heads. You will lead simulations, experiments, and cross-functional collaboration to translate new ideas into scalable product solutions.

The role requires a strong background in optical engineering, silicon photonics, and plasmonics, with hands-on testing and modeling. Collaboration across US, Japan, and China is expected, with a focus on robustness and