Optical Engineer, Precision Instrumentation

Astera Institute; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Benefits

Job summary

Astera Neuro is seeking 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.

Qualifications

• PhD, MS, or BS with 3-12 years of experience in optical engineering, biomedical engineering, physics, or a related field.
• World-class generalist and hands-on problem-solver with a track record of building precision hardware relied on for real work.
• Resourcefulness to quickly prototype parts—machine, 3D-print, or outsource as needed.
• Comfort turning rough ideas into working instruments with collaborators.
• Deep fundamentals in optical design and fabrication.
• Curious, collaborative, and eager to learn the science around you.
• Experience owning complex instruments end-to-end from concept through fabrication and operation.
• Experience making and defending tradeoffs across performance, manufacturability, cost, and timeline.
• Experience equipping and running an optical workshop, makerspace, or prototyping facility.

Responsibilities

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

Skills

Optical Engineering

Precision Hardware

Hands-on Prototyping

Instrumentation Design

Prototype Workshop

Education

PhD / MS / BS in Optical Engineering

Tools

CAD/CAM

3D Printing

Job description

Company Overview

Astera Neuro seeks to understand and engineer consciousness. We believe consciousness is the process by which the brain builds a coherent internal model of the world and the self. We aim to understand this model and to develop the technologies to write experience directly into the brain. By combining large-scale neural recording, causal perturbation, and brain-based AI, we seek to move neuroscience from observing correlates of experience to engineering it. The same tools carry direct therapeutic promise for neurological and psychiatric diseases that alter perception, thought, and sense of self. Because the science and tools required do not yet exist, we are assembling a founding team of neuroscientists, theorists, and engineers to create them. We do high-risk, high-reward science in a well-resourced, collaborative environment with competitive pay, and share everything 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!