Optomechanical Integration & Test Engineer (Miami, FL)

Key Responsibilities

• Own optical test stands end to end, from indoor characterization benches to the high-flux test facility to outdoor on-sun stands: concept, CAD, fixtures, instrumentation, commissioning, first light, and day-to-day operation
• Design and run test campaigns from hypothesis to conclusion: write the test plan, build the setup, take the data, quantify the uncertainty, and present results that drive real design decisions
• Characterize optical components and assemblies: alignment verification, focal and flux measurements, camera-based flux mapping, radiometry and thermal power measurement, reflectance and transmittance
• Select, mount, wire, and calibrate instrumentation (radiometers and power sensors, thermocouples, cameras, tilt sensors, encoders, weather and irradiance instruments) and integrate everything into DAQ systems
• Automate tests in Python: instrument control, data acquisition, analysis pipelines, and the plots and reports that make results legible to the whole team
• Make the test infrastructure agent-ready: expose instruments, test sequencing, and data pipelines through clean scriptable interfaces so AI agents can configure a test, run it, watch it overnight, and flag anomalies, then use those agents to run campaigns that would otherwise wait on a human
• Close the loop between simulation and hardware: compare measured optical performance against raytrace predictions and chase discrepancies to root cause, whether the flaw is in the hardware or in the measurement
• Run environmental and durability testing on optical components (thermal cycling, weathering, soiling) and help build the reliability story for hardware that must survive decades outdoors
• Document test plans, procedures, results, and decisions on the team wiki; present and defend your own work in design reviews, growing into ownership of the team's test strategy over time

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Optical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Physics, or a closely related discipline
• 2+ years of hands-on laboratory, test, or integration experience with optical or precision hardware; graduate research and substantial internship work count
• Strong fundamentals in math and physics: you reason from first principles, estimate before you compute, and check every result against known limits before you believe it; we probe this hard in interviews
• Instrumentation fundamentals: sensor selection, signal conditioning, calibration, and DAQ integration
• Python for test automation and data analysis: instrument control, numpy/pandas data reduction, publication-quality plots
• Fluency with AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, or similar) as a daily engineering tool: you use them to write most of your code, and you own every line they produce, reviewed, tested, and understood; expect us to ask you to show how you work with AI the same way we ask about your bench skills
• The instinct to make work agentic: you can decompose a workflow into steps an agent can execute, with clean interfaces, verifiable checkpoints, and guardrails, and you have the judgment to catch an agent when it is confidently wrong; engineers who can direct several agents at once will outrun those who type everything themselves, and we hire the former
• Working knowledge of a parametric CAD tool for fixtures and test hardware; the team uses PTC Creo and SolidWorks
• The discipline of good measurement: you control variables, calibrate before you trust, quantify uncertainty, and distrust your own data until the measurement itself is validated
• A track record of building real test setups or hardware: research labs, internships, capstone projects, FSAE, solar car teams, robotics, or independent builds all count; bench experience matters more than coursework grades
• The drive to own the full cycle yourself: take a question to a test plan, to a built stand, to trustworthy data, learn from the mistakes, and iterate quickly rather than handing steps off to others
• Comfort with both bench and field work: precision optical alignment in the morning, commissioning an outdoor test stand in the Miami sun in the afternoon
• Structured root-cause instincts when results look wrong: the first suspect is always the measurement, and you know how to clear or convict it
• Strong written communication: your test reports should let the next engineer reproduce the measurement without asking you
• The temperament to hold your ideas loosely: designs evolve weekly and priorities shift on real evidence; engineers who can let go and update move fastest

Preferred Qualifications

• Radiometry or photometry experience: power meters, flux mapping, camera-based flux measurement, IR thermography
• Camera-based metrology and image processing: OpenCV or similar, converting images into calibrated measurements
• Thermal measurement experience: calorimetry, heat flux sensors, flow-and-temperature-based power measurement
• Motion control experience: stages, encoders, motorized mounts, closed-loop pointing systems
• Exposure to optical simulation (LightTools, Zemax, or another raytracer) and to comparing measurement against model
• Statistics for test engineering: design of experiments, measurement system analysis, formal uncertainty budgets
• Experience building agentic systems around real hardware or simulation: agents driving instruments or ray-trace models through tool interfaces (MCP or similar), running parameter sweeps overnight, and summarizing the results; or any project where you gave an AI real levers and made its output trustworthy
• Machine shop skills and rapid prototyping: you can make the bracket you need instead of waiting for it
• Interest in solar energy, heliostats, or large-scale renewable infrastructure

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work extended hours and occasional weekends when test campaigns, commissioning windows, or program deadlines demand it
• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted, and to work on ladders and lifts and around energized equipment and concentrated light with appropriate PPE
• Ability to work outdoors in Miami heat for extended periods during field testing
• Occasional travel to vendors, calibration labs, and field sites