Opto-Mechanical Engineer (Analysis)

Optical Society of Southern California; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Impulse Space, a leader in spacecraft manufacturing, seeks an Opto-Mechanical Analysis Engineer to advance structural and thermal-elastic analyses of optical payloads. You will develop and maintain finite element models, assess alignment sensitivity, and ensure hardware survives launch and operates reliably in orbit.

The role emphasizes collaboration with optical engineers, working with NX, SolidWorks, Nastran, ANSYS, SigFIT, and related tools.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mechanics, Physics, Optical Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of demonstrated experience with structural analysis, mechanical design analysis, FEA, or thermal-mechanical analysis through professional work.
• Strong understanding of mechanics of materials, dynamics, heat transfer, vibration, and structural behavior.
• Experience with CAD or FEA tools such as NX, SolidWorks, Nastran, ANSYS, SigFIT, Femap, Simcenter 3D, or equivalent.
• Ability to work with mechanical drawings, material properties, fasteners, tolerances, and physical hardware constraints.

Responsibilities

• Perform structural and thermal analysis on optical hardware.
• Develop and maintain finite element models for flight and development hardware.
• Support Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance analysis by working with optical engineers to understand alignment sensitivity, detector placement tolerances, boresight stability, wavefront error, and pointing requirements.

Skills

FEA experience

Opto-mechanical analysis

Structural mechanics

Vibration analysis

Thermal analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical/Aerospace/Optical Engineering or related

Tools

NX

SolidWorks

Nastran

ANSYS

SigFIT

Femap

Simcenter 3D

Job description

Opto-Mechanical Engineer (Analysis)

Impulse Space is seeking an Opto-Mechanical Analysis Engineer to support the development of precision optical systems for spacecraft. This role will focus on structural, thermal-elastic, and dynamic analysis of opto-mechanical assemblies optical payloads.

This engineer will help ensure that optical hardware survives launch, maintains alignment through thermal and vibration environments, and performs reliably on orbit. Depending on experience level, this role may support, own, or lead analysis efforts for lens barrels, detector mounts, mirror mounts, baffles, mechanisms, and terminal-level optical assemblies.

The ideal candidate has strong mechanical fundamentals, experience with FEA or structural analysis, and an interest in the intersection of mechanical design, optical performance, and spaceflight environments.

Responsibilities

• Perform structural and thermal analysis on optical hardware.
• Develop and maintain finite element models for flight and development hardware.
• Support Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance analysis by working with optical engineers to understand alignment sensitivity, detector placement tolerances, boresight stability, wavefront error, and pointing requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Applied Mechanics, Physics, Optical Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of demonstrated experience with structural analysis, mechanical design analysis, FEA, or thermal-mechanical analysis through professional work.
• Strong understanding of mechanics of materials, dynamics, heat transfer, vibration, and structural behavior.
• Experience with CAD or FEA tools such as NX, SolidWorks, Nastran, ANSYS, SigFIT, Femap, Simcenter 3D, or equivalent.
• Ability to work with mechanical drawings, material properties, fasteners, tolerances, and physical hardware constraints.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• 5+ years of demonstrated experience analyzing aerospace, spacecraft, optical payload, camera, telescope, lasercom, or precision instrumentation hardware.
• 3+ years of demonstrated experience with Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance workflows using tools such as SigFit, Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, FRED, MATLAB, Python, or similar.
• Experience with opto-mechanical hardware such as lens barrels, mirror mounts, flexures, bonded optics, kinematic mounts, detector mounts, optical benches, or gimbaled assemblies.

Additional Information

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full‑time hires, you may also be eligible for long‑term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Impulse Space's spacecraft manufacturing business is subject to U.S. export regulations including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This position requires applicants to be either U.S. Persons (i.e., U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent U.S. resident (green card holder), an individual granted asylum in the U.S., or an individual admitted in U.S. refugee status) or persons eligible to obtain an export license from the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, or other applicable U.S. government agencies. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Impulse Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Impulse Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Department

Avionics

Employment Type

Full Time

Location

Redondo Beach

Workplace type

Onsite

Compensation

$120,000 - $180,000 / year