Optical Engineer, Precision Instrumentation

Astera Institute; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Astera Neuro is building and refining optical instruments for large-scale neuroscience research. You will design precision systems for two-photon imaging and photostimulation, and you will own projects end-to-end—from concept through fabrication, integration, and reliable operation.

You will collaborate with scientists and industry partners, iterate from rough ideas toward working instruments, and contribute to a team that values openness and open science.

Qualifications

• PhD, MS, or BS with 3-12 years of experience in optical engineering, biomedical engineering, physics, or a related field.
• World-class generalist who has built precision hardware in demanding industry settings.
• Resourceful: machine one part, 3D‑print the next, and outsource when needed.
• Comfort starting from rough ideas and guiding toward a working instrument.
• Deep fundamentals in optical design and fabrication.
• Collaborative and eager to learn the science around you.
• Track record of owning complex instruments end-to-end.
• Experience making and defending design tradeoffs across performance, manufacturability, cost, and timeline.
• Experience equipping and running an optical workshop or prototyping facility.

Responsibilities

• Design precision optical systems for neuroscience experiments, such as large field-of-view, high-speed two-photon imaging and photostimulation microscopes.
• Develop an advanced miniature two-photon microscope capable of simultaneous imaging and photostimulation in freely moving animals.
• Build electronics, control hardware, and software that interface the optical systems with data acquisition and the rest of the research stack.

Skills

Optical engineering

Precision hardware

End-to-end ownership

Hands-on problem-solver

Machining / 3D printing

Education

PhD, MS, or BS with 3–12 years in optical engineering / related field

Tools

CAD/CAM

3D printing

PCB layout / electronics design

DAQ integration

Job description

Company Overview

Astera Neuro is a philanthropically funded research organization within the Astera Institute, working to decipher and ultimately write the neural codes underlying perception, thought, behavior, and internal state. The tools this requires do not yet exist, so we are assembling a founding team of experimental neuroscientists, computational scientists, and engineers to build them, from recording and interface hardware to software and computational methods, and to use them to study neural activity at unprecedented scale, with direct promise for treating neurological and psychiatric disease. We pursue high-risk, high-reward science in a collaborative, well-resourced environment with competitive compensation, and share our tools, data, and discoveries openly under Astera's Open Science Policy

Position Summary

Reading and writing complex neural activity patterns with light, via two-photon imaging and two-photon optogenetics, is one of the principal ways Astera Neuro will pursue this mission. You will design and build the optical systems our experiments depend on, most of which don’t exist commercially. Working directly with scientists and industry collaborators, you will develop a design, build it, and iterate until it works for the experiment. Some projects are well specified from the start; others begin as a rough idea that takes shape as you build. The work crosses mechanical design, fabrication, electronics, and optics, often within a single project. You do not need a background in neuroscience to apply; we are looking for world-class generalists who have built precision hardware in demanding industry settings, and who pick up the science as they go. You will own complex instruments end-to-end and help drive technical direction.

What You’ll Do

• Design precision optical systems for neuroscience experiments, such as large field-of-view, high-speed two-photon imaging and photostimulation microscopes.
• Develop an advanced miniature two-photon microscope capable of simultaneous imaging and photostimulation in freely moving animals.
• Build electronics, control hardware, and software that interface the optical systems with data acquisition and the rest of the research stack.

Who You Are

Required:

• PhD, MS, or BS with 3-12 years of experience in optical engineering, biomedical engineering, physics, or a related field. Graduate work or research experience is a plus but not required.
• A world-class generalist and hands-on problem-solver who has built precision hardware in a high-precision industry, ideally medical devices, robotics, aerospace, semiconductor capital equipment, or commercial or academic scientific instrumentation. You have designed and built hardware that other people relied on for real work, and kept it running.
• Resourcefulness about getting things built quickly: you will machine one part, 3D-print the next, and send a job out for what is better outsourced.
• Comfort working from a rough idea rather than a finished spec, figuring out the path to a working instrument together with the people who need it.
• Deep fundamentals in optical design and fabrication.
• Intellectually curious, collaborative, and eager to learn the science around you.
• A track record of owning complex instruments end-to-end, from concept through fabrication, integration, and reliable operation.
• Experience making and defending design tradeoffs across performance, manufacturability, cost, and timeline.
• Experience equipping and running an optical workshop, makerspace, or prototyping facility.

Preferred/Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with femtosecond lasers, non-linear microscopy, and wavefront engineering.
• Experience with optical alignment, small precise parts, and tight tolerances.
• Hands-on electronics design (PCB layout, embedded systems, sensor/actuator integration).
• CAD/CAM proficiency and 3D printing.
• Experience integrating hardware with data acquisition systems (DAQ, TTL synchronization, serial/SPI protocols).

Why Join Us

Astera Neuro is hiring a world-class optical engineer to design and build the optical instruments large-scale neuroscience depends on, most of which don’t exist commercially, from optimizing the scale and speed of existing two-photon imaging and photostimulation systems to developing novel technologies for fast optical interfacing with brain tissue at cellular resolution. You don’t need a neuroscience background; you need to love hard design problems and getting things built fast.

Astera Neuro provides a comprehensive benefits package and total compensation that is competitive and commensurate with the level of experience and qualifications.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion!

Compensation Range: $150K - $250K