Optomechanical Lead, Space Payloads

Matter; El Segundo (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health coverage (100% employer-paid)

Growth opportunities

Job summary

Matter is seeking an experienced Optomechanical Engineer to lead the design, analysis, integration, and qualification of high‑performance optical payloads for space and airborne platforms. You will own the optomechanical architecture, drive alignment strategies, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, and test.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years in precision optical systems, strong CAD/FEA/GD&T skills, hands‑on hardware experience, and a proven ability to

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Optical, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or related
• 5+ years of optomechanical design and development of precision optical systems
• Experience owning optomechanical designs from requirements through integration and test
• Strong background in optical mounting, tolerancing, metrology, materials, adhesives, and mounting for varied environments
• Proficiency with CAD tools (SolidWorks, Creo) and GD&T, and FEA
• Hands-on hardware integration, alignment, fabrication or assembly, testing, and characterization of optical components
• Experience producing high-quality technical documentation
• Strong communication skills and cross-functional leadership

Responsibilities

• Lead optomechanical design of precision optical assemblies and payloads for space-qualified systems
• Define mechanical architectures for mounts, structures, interfaces preserving alignment through launch/on-orbit
• Translate optical requirements into mechanical/thermal/manufacturing requirements and derive specs
• Drive design maturity through reviews and analyses
• Own optomechanical performance across STOP domains (structural/thermal/optical)
• Perform tolerance analyses, GD&T, FEA, and thermal analyses
• Collaborate with optical engineers on modeling and error budgets using Zemax/Speos/MATLAB
• Define alignment strategies, test equipment, and procedures for assembly and test
• Lead integration, bonding, and alignment of flight/test hardware in clean environments
• Support environmental testing and root-cause analysis
• Design for manufacturability and manage procurement of optical components
• Produce and maintain CAD models, drawings, BOMs, and test procedures
• Support transition from prototype to production
• Act as optomechanical technical lead and mentor junior engineers
• Balance performance, schedule, and cost with program management

Skills

Optomechanical design

Optical alignment

CAD tools

GD&T

FEA

Metrology

Hardware integration

Technical documentation

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree (ME/Optical/Aerospace/Physics)

Tools

SolidWorks

Creo

Zemax

Speos

MATLAB

Job description

Matter is seeking an experienced Optomechanical Engineer to lead the design, analysis, integration, and qualification of high‑performance optical payloads for space and airborne platforms. You will own the optomechanical architecture, drive alignment strategies, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, and test.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years in precision optical systems, strong CAD/FEA/GD&T skills, hands‑on hardware experience, and a proven ability to