Senior EO/IR Optical Engineer - Level V

Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and validate FRED non-sequential optical models for EO/IR payloads, optical benches, baffles, filters, detectors, calibration sources, and flight-like test setups.
• Perform stray-light, ghost, scatter, vignetting, detector-irradiance, and baffle analyses that directly influence hardware design.
• Model realistic coatings, apertures, stops, source geometries, CAD structures, surface scatter, BRDF/BSDF data, and detector response maps.
• Plan and execute optical metrology for lenses, mirrors, windows, filters, etalons, optical flats, optical benches, and assembled payloads.
• Use interferometric methods to evaluate surface figure, transmitted wavefront error, wedge, parallelism, optical alignment, and system-level wavefront performance.
• Support PSF, MTF, spectral transmission, radiometric, and stray-light testing for prototype, engineering, and flight hardware.
• Develop alignment plans, test procedures, verification matrices, supplier acceptance criteria, and optical analysis reports.
• Work directly with optical, mechanical, thermal, detector, software, manufacturing, quality, and program teams in rapid design-build-test cycles.
• Help solve hard optical performance problems when the model, metrology data, hardware, and schedule do not initially agree.

Qualifications

• Qualifications Required: Bachelor’s degree or higher in a computer engineering or computer science field plus 12-15 years, MS plus 10-13 years, or PhD plus 10+ years of professional experience in software engineering for high-reliability space and aerospace applications.
• Direct experience with FRED or equivalent non-sequential optical modeling tools; FRED experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience with stray-light, ghost, scatter, baffle, or detector-irradiance analysis.
• Hands-on optical metrology or interferometry experience, including test setup, data interpretation, and error-source diagnosis.
• Ability to interpret and specify surface figure, TWE, wedge, parallelism, roughness, coating performance, spectral transmission, PSF, and MTF.
• Ability to convert analysis and test results into engineering decisions, tolerances, procurement specifications, and verification evidence.
• Clear technical writing and the ability to brief results to scientists, engineers, program managers, customers, and suppliers.
• Preferred Experience: with space payloads, satellite instrumentation, missile-warning, remote-sensing, or national-security optical systems.
• Experience with Fabry-Perot etalons, interferometers, narrowband imaging systems, hyperspectral/spectral instruments, or high-stability optical benches.
• Experience using Fizeau or phase-shifting interferometers, autocollimators, spectrometers, monochromators, integrating spheres, collimators, or detector test stations.
• Familiarity with Zemax OpticStudio, CODE V, MATLAB, Python, SolidWorks/CAD import workflows, optical coating data, and ISO 10110 optical specifications.
• Experience supporting environmental test, thermal vacuum, vibration, cleanroom optical handling, contamination control, supplier acceptance, or AS9100 development environments.

Equal Pay Act

Projected compensation range for this position: Min: $149,675.71 Max: $260,257.02

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and federal government contractor. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment as protected by law.