Optomechanical Engineer - Field-Ready Space Optics

Darwin Recruitment; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous equity

Healthcare with vision and dental

401k

Unlimited PTO

Onsite role with travel

Job summary

Darwin Recruitment is seeking an Optomechanical Engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area to own the productisation of compact pointing, acquisition and tracking optomechanical subsystems for modular ground stations and space terminals.

You will take coarse and fine pointing systems from prototype to field qualification, maintaining microradian stability in diverse environments, and collaborate with software, electrical and network engineers to close the loop for autonomous optical communications

Qualifications

• 3+ years of optomechanical design experience on precision optical systems (laser communications, telescopes, or directed energy)
• BSc or MS in mechanical/optical/aerospace engineering or related field
• Proficiency with CAD tools (SolidWorks, NX, Creo) and FEA tools (ANSYS, Nastran)
• Hands-on experience aligning and testing optical assemblies in a lab
• Working knowledge of GD&T, tolerance analysis and precision machining

Responsibilities

• Design optomechanical assemblies for beam steering including gimbals and fast steering mirrors
• Perform structural, thermal and STOP analyses to verify line-of-sight stability and wavefront budgets
• Develop pointing error budgets and translate to component requirements
• Select and qualify actuators, encoders, bearings and flexures for ground/space environments
• Lead alignment, integration and test of optical assemblies in the field
• Support acquisition/tracking campaigns at ground stations and troubleshoot under atmospheric conditions
• Collaborate with software/electrical/network teams to close the loop between lab design and autonomous optical communications

Skills

optomechanical design

lab alignment

Education

BSc or MS in mechanical engineering, optical engineering, aerospace engineering or related field

Tools

SolidWorks

NX

Creo

FEA tools (ANSYS or Nastran)

Job description

Darwin Recruitment is seeking an Optomechanical Engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area to own the productisation of compact pointing, acquisition and tracking optomechanical subsystems for modular ground stations and space terminals.

You will take coarse and fine pointing systems from prototype to field qualification, maintaining microradian stability in diverse environments, and collaborate with software, electrical and network engineers to close the loop for autonomous optical communications