Senior Optical Engineer - Lead System Design

Instant Teams; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Health insurance

Lunches provided

Job summary

Aurelius Systems in San Francisco seeks a senior optical engineer to own optical system design and critical investigations for our hardware platform. You will bring deep optical theory and strong judgment to optimize deployed systems, collaborating with mechanical and electrical teammates.

This senior role emphasizes optical design, trade studies, and validation, while enabling cross-functional decision-making and robust manufacturability across the product line.

Qualifications

• Strong background in optical engineering, optical design, or related physics-based system work.
• Deep understanding of optical theory and its application to hardware problems.
• Experience designing, analyzing, and debugging optical systems in practice.
• Ability to lead technical investigations from first principles and prior experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead optical design and analysis for core system components.
• Drive optical investigations, trade studies, and system-level design decisions.
• Specify and evaluate optical components and subsystem architectures.
• Partner with mechanical engineers on packaging, housing, and integration decisions.
• Support tolerance analysis, performance validation, and design iteration.
• Lead or guide alignment, characterization, and test efforts for integrated optical systems.
• Work with vendors and fabricators on manufacturability, tolerancing, and component feasibility.
• Help establish best practices for optical development, validation, and technical documentation.

Skills

Optical engineering

Optical design

Optical theory

System-level problems

Mechanical fluency

Alignment & testing

Vendor collaboration

Education

BS or MS in Optical Engineering

Tools

Optical modeling tools

Alignment equipment

Job description

Aurelius Systems in San Francisco seeks a senior optical engineer to own optical system design and critical investigations for our hardware platform. You will bring deep optical theory and strong judgment to optimize deployed systems, collaborating with mechanical and electrical teammates.

This senior role emphasizes optical design, trade studies, and validation, while enabling cross-functional decision-making and robust manufacturability across the product line.