Optical Validation Engineer — Next-Gen Display Tech

Apple Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock programs

Medical and dental coverage

Tuition reimbursement

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Apple Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking an optical engineer to translate next-generation display technologies into reality.

You will own end-to-end optical models, validate them against measured hardware, and drive design iterations with cross-functional teams to accelerate development. This role requires deep optical expertise, hands-on validation, and strong communication to shape engineering direction across design, testing, and manufacturing.

Qualifications

• BS in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field with 3+ years of relevant experience.
• Established track record of correlating optical simulations with measured hardware performance in industry or R&D settings.
• Proficiency with one or more optical simulation tools (LightTools, FDTD, RCWA, Zemax, Code V, etc).
• Hands-on experience in optical design/metrology, display technologies, optical sensors, thin-film processes, or nanofabrication.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design validation for next-generation optical display components.
• Own the development and validation of optical simulation capabilities and closing the simulation-measurement feedback loop using real build data.
• Define characterization pipelines, build plans, and data architecture to establish rigorous design-to-performance validation and translate results cross-functionally into insights.
• Define critical performance metrics and develop specifications to guarantee component performance in high-volume manufacturing builds.
• Drive failure mode analysis and root-cause diagnosis across optical components to support build-critical issues and translate learnings into improved predictive simulation capability.
• Analyze results, produce comprehensive reports, and communicate findings to cross-functional teams.

Skills

Optical engineering

Optical simulations

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

BS in Optical Engineering

Masters or PhD in Optical/EE/Physics

Tools

LightTools

FDTD

RCWA

Zemax

Code V

Job description

Apple Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area is seeking an optical engineer to translate next-generation display technologies into reality.

You will own end-to-end optical models, validate them against measured hardware, and drive design iterations with cross-functional teams to accelerate development. This role requires deep optical expertise, hands-on validation, and strong communication to shape engineering direction across design, testing, and manufacturing.