Optical Engineer: Laser Communications & Space Optics

InvestedintheMission; Hawthorne (CA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Vision insurance

Dental coverage

Stock options

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Paid vacation

Paid holidays

Job summary

SpaceX's Starshield program seeks an experienced Optical Engineer to design, validate, and operate free-space optical systems for laser communications and imaging on Starshield satellites. You will work across cross-disciplinary teams to deliver robust, high-performance optics in demanding space environments.

The role requires hands-on lab work, familiarity with Zemax or similar tools, Python scripting, and strong collaboration with software, hardware, and manufacturing teams to ensure designs

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in optical engineering, physics, or related STEM field.
• 2+ years hands-on optics/photonics experience; lab, project, or internship counts.
• 1+ years programming in C++, MATLAB, or Python.

Responsibilities

• Apply optics and photonics knowledge to optical system development, including design, analysis, and validation
• Represent optical system in program-level trades and issue resolution
• Define requirements for high-performance optical systems in challenging environments
• Lead optical architecture definition through trades, concepts, and testing
• Participate in verification testing including environmental qualification and reliability testing
• Define and lead field testing of optical experiments and laser communication systems
• Review test data and lead anomaly investigation and resolution
• Maintain link budgets, design specs, and system capabilities data
• Interface with manufacturing and supply chain to ensure producible designs
• Collaborate with software and automation teams to develop testing tools
• Represent laser communications systems in reliability discussions with teams and vendors

Skills

Optical engineering

Photonics

Python

C++

MATLAB

Laser systems

Linux

Education

Bachelor's degree in optical engineering or related

Tools

Zemax

Interferometer

Power meters

Linux

Job description

SpaceX's Starshield program seeks an experienced Optical Engineer to design, validate, and operate free-space optical systems for laser communications and imaging on Starshield satellites. You will work across cross-disciplinary teams to deliver robust, high-performance optics in demanding space environments.

The role requires hands-on lab work, familiarity with Zemax or similar tools, Python scripting, and strong collaboration with software, hardware, and manufacturing teams to ensure designs