Staff Opto-Mechanical Engineer

Socket.dev; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 148,000 - 204,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity plan

Discretionary bonus

Paid vacation

Parental leave

Health insurance (HMO/PPO)

Life Insurance

Disability coverage

Development reimbursement

Collaborative environment

Job summary

Divergent is seeking a Staff Opto-Mechanical Engineer to act as the technical owner for optical and opto-mechanical systems within our L-PBF platform. You will drive improvements in optical performance, reliability, calibration, and system capability across a complex production machine in the field.

You will lead investigations, establish methods and standards, and collaborate with software, controls, service, and process teams to ensure print consistency and long-term fleet performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated technical capability.
• Demonstrated experience owning or leading development of complex optical or opto-mechanical systems.
• Strong understanding of geometric optics and laser-system fundamentals.
• Experience designing precision mechanical hardware for optical alignment and stability.
• Strong capability in 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
• Experience with optical alignment, calibration, characterization, and system-level error budgeting, including hands-on assembling, aligning, testing, and debugging sophisticated hardware.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex multidisciplinary hardware problems.
• Ability to lead technical work across organizational boundaries and communicate technical decisions clearly.
• Experience mentoring engineers or establishing technical standards and methods.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical authority for printer optics and beam-delivery systems.
• Own system performance, reliability, calibration, and continued development of critical optical and opto-mechanical hardware.
• Lead root-cause investigations involving focus, spot size, scan-field behavior, alignment, thermal drift, vibration, contamination, calibration, and mechanical stability.
• Translate fleet and production issues into structured investigations, corrective actions, and durable design improvements.
• Develop and maintain optical error budgets, requirements, calibration strategies, acceptance criteria, and validation methods.
• Determine whether performance issues should be addressed through calibration, compensation, hardware changes, process changes, or architectural redesign.
• Plan and lead optical characterization, prototype testing, design-of-experiments, and system validation.
• When needed, work hands-on with printers to assemble, align, calibrate, characterize, and troubleshoot optical systems.
• Partner with software, controls, service, and process teams to improve calibration, diagnostics, compensation, and print consistency.
• Work with manufacturing, service, quality, and suppliers to improve robustness, serviceability, component performance, and fleet consistency.
• Identify limitations in the current optical architecture and define improvements for current and future printer generations.
• Establish reusable engineering standards, design practices, test methods, and troubleshooting approaches.
• Mentor engineers and lead cross-functional technical decisions where optical performance depends on interactions across multiple disciplines.
• Design and release improvements to optical mounts, scanner integration, beam-delivery hardware, calibration systems, and precision mechanical structures.

Skills

Optics fundamentals

Opto-mechanical systems

Leadership

Technical communication

Root-cause analysis

Calibration/testing

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or related discipline

Tools

Zemax OpticStudio

Code V

Siemens NX

Teamcenter

Job description

Divergent is building the new industrial age. Every day, our teams design, manufacture, and assemble advanced systems for some of the world’s most demanding industries. Our integrated engineering and manufacturing platform transforms complex designs into production-ready solutions, helping customers move faster, build smarter, and deliver critical systems when they matter most. Divergent is a qualified Tier 1 supplier to global automotive OEMs and supports leading U.S. aerospace and defense companies.

Join us and help push the boundaries of what can be built.

Purpose

As a Staff Opto-Mechanical Engineer, you will serve as a technical owner for the optical and opto-mechanical systems within Divergent’s laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) platform.

You will work on a complex production machine already operating in the field, with responsibility for improving optical performance, reliability, repeatability, calibration, and long-term system capability. You will lead difficult technical investigations, drive design improvements, establish engineering methods and standards, and help define the evolution of future printer architectures.

This role requires both deep technical capability and broad system ownership across optics, mechanical engineering, controls, software, additive process development, manufacturing, quality, and service.

The Role

• Serve as a technical authority for printer optics and beam-delivery systems.
• Own system performance, reliability, calibration, and continued development of critical optical and opto-mechanical hardware.
• Lead root-cause investigations involving focus, spot size, scan-field behavior, alignment, thermal drift, vibration, contamination, calibration, and mechanical stability.
• Translate fleet and production issues into structured investigations, corrective actions, and durable design improvements.
• Develop and maintain optical error budgets, requirements, calibration strategies, acceptance criteria, and validation methods.
• Determine whether performance issues should be addressed through calibration, compensation, hardware changes, process changes, or architectural redesign.
• Plan and lead optical characterization, prototype testing, design-of-experiments, and system validation.
• When needed, work hands-on with printers to assemble, align, calibrate, characterize, and troubleshoot optical systems.
• Partner with software, controls, service, and process teams to improve calibration, diagnostics, compensation, and print consistency.
• Work with manufacturing, service, quality, and suppliers to improve robustness, serviceability, component performance, and fleet consistency.
• Identify limitations in the current optical architecture and define improvements for current and future printer generations.
• Establish reusable engineering standards, design practices, test methods, and troubleshooting approaches.
• Mentor engineers and lead cross-functional technical decisions where optical performance depends on interactions across multiple disciplines.
• Design and release improvements to optical mounts, scanner integration, beam-delivery hardware, calibration systems, and precision mechanical structures.

Basic Qualifications

• Ability to lawfully access information and technology that is subject to US export controls.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of relevant engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated technical capability.
• Demonstrated experience owning or leading development of complex optical or opto-mechanical systems.
• Strong understanding of geometric optics and laser-system fundamentals.
• Experience designing precision mechanical hardware for optical alignment and stability.
• Strong capability in 3D CAD, engineering drawings, GD&T, and tolerance analysis.
• Experience with optical alignment, calibration, characterization, and system-level error budgeting. Including hands-on experience assembling, aligning, testing, and debugging sophisticated hardware.
• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot complex multidisciplinary hardware problems.
• Ability to lead technical work across organizational boundaries and communicate technical decisions clearly.
• Experience mentoring engineers or establishing technical standards and methods.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with laser powder bed fusion, laser-based manufacturing equipment, semiconductor equipment, metrology systems, or other precision production machinery.
• Experience with high-power near-infrared lasers, galvanometer scanners, scan lenses, beam-conditioning optics, or multi-laser systems.
• Experience characterizing focus, spot size, beam quality, field performance, distortion, or laser power distribution.
• Experience with machine calibration, coordinate transformations, compensation, or precision metrology.
• Experience developing calibration fixtures, alignment tooling, or automated optical characterization systems.
• Experience with thermal drift, vibration, contamination, or long-term alignment stability in precision systems.
• Experience with optical modeling tools such as Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, or equivalent.
• Familiarity with Class 4 laser safety, production hardware release, configuration management, and supplier development.
• Familiarity with Siemens NX and Teamcenter.

Work Environment

• On-site role spanning office, optical laboratory, prototype-build, and manufacturing-floor environments.
• Regular hands-on interaction with precision optical hardware, industrial equipment, and L-PBF machines.

Pay Range

$148,430—$204,090 USD

What We Offer:

• Holistic Compensation Package: Enjoy a world-class compensation package that includes a competitive salary, equity plan, and discretionary results-based incentive bonus opportunities, ensuring you're truly valued for your contributions.
• Wellness and Time Off: Embrace a healthy lifestyle with paid vacation, sick time, and company holidays, including a year-end shutdown to recharge. We support growing families with paid parental leave, recognizing the importance of bonding time.
• Comprehensive Health and Wellness: Prioritize your well-being with our comprehensive health and wellness benefits, offering both HMO and Premium PPO options. Additionally, benefit from company-sponsored life insurance and short and long-term disability coverage for peace of mind.
• Investment in Growth: We're committed to your professional development. Take advantage of reimbursement opportunities for learning and development initiatives, empowering you to continuously expand your skill set and reach peak performance.
• Collaborative and High-Performing Environment: Join our collaborative, dynamic, and high-performing team within a fast-paced, mission-driven company. Together, we're disrupting the traditional manufacturing industry, fostering innovation, and integrating people and technology to reduce our footprint.

Equal Employment Opportunity Divergent is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected characteristic. Divergent provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act. EEO Poster

In order to adjust to changes in our business, it may become necessary to add, remove or modify certain duties and responsibilities, or to reassign you to another job position. From time to time you may be asked to work on special projects or to assist with other work. Your cooperation and assistance in performing such additional work is expected. E-Verify: Right to Work Our company participates in E-Verify. E-Verify is a program that electronically confirms a candidate’s eligibility to work in the United States after completing the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9). The information provided on the Form I-9 is compared to the records contained in the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases. This helps employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees. Eligibility to Work Poster (English) | Eligibility to Work Poster (Spanish) Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO) Pursuant to the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance (FCIHO), we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

No agencies, no solicitations, and no calls please.