Senior Adaptive Optics & Beam Control Engineer

Xcimer Energy; Denver (CO); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

401(k) with company match

Equity

Paid holidays

Parental leave

AI-assisted hiring

Job summary

Xcimer Energy, based in Denver, CO, seeks a Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer to own AO requirements for a directed-energy laser demonstrator. You will lead the AO group strategy, mentor staff, and coordinate with partners to advance fusion beam control while ensuring high reliability and performance.

Responsibilities include modeling, interface negotiations, and translating lessons from directed energy to fusion beamlines, with a focus on fast, robust hardware development and

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in optics, physics, electrical engineering, or closely related field.
• 8+ years in optical science/engineering; 5+ years in adaptive optics, wavefront sensing/control or related high-speed optical/laser control systems.
• Proven ownership of AO requirements and performance budgets on real programs.
• Experience with high-energy laser systems and optics constraints (damage, thermal management).
• Experience directing technical work of other engineers or technicians.

Responsibilities

• Own AO requirements and performance budgets for the Directed Energy program.
• Build and maintain end-to-end performance models for beam control under turbulence and thermal blooming.
• Specify deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, and real-time control budgets; review partner designs.
• Lead architecture decisions: topology, actuators, sensing, control rates, and hardware limits.
• Provide guidance on standards, documentation, and group growth for the AO team.
• Collaborate with vendors/partners on specifications, reviews, and testing.
• Define proof-of-concept experiments and assess results; guide integration with laser control.

Skills

Adaptive optics

Wavefront sensing

Beam control

Directed energy

Deformable mirrors

Education

Advanced degree in optics/physics/EE

Tools

Shack-Hartmann sensing

High-bandwidth control hardware

Job description

Xcimer Energy, based in Denver, CO, seeks a Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer to own AO requirements for a directed-energy laser demonstrator. You will lead the AO group strategy, mentor staff, and coordinate with partners to advance fusion beam control while ensuring high reliability and performance.

Responsibilities include modeling, interface negotiations, and translating lessons from directed energy to fusion beamlines, with a focus on fast, robust hardware development and