Staff Optical Engineer

About the role

We are looking for an Optical Engineer to own the design, build, test, and flight of the optical systems that move data through the Ephemeris Net network, including coherent optical transceivers and the free-space optical assembly that pairs with it. You will own optical hardware end to end, across both the transceiver and the free-space link.

Key Responsibilities

• Optical System Design & Build

• Design and assemble coherent transceiver optics from components: optical modulators, optical hybrids, photodetectors
• Design the free-space optical assembly including optical design and ray tracing: tolerancing, ghost analysis, and stray light analysis to close on-orbit link budgets
• Design the fiber optical layout, including alignment fixtures and opto-mechanical packaging
• Own the transmit and receive signal chain performance from RF electrical output through free-space launch and from free-space back to RF electrical

• Test & Characterization

• Develop and execute bench-level test plans for the transceiver and free-space assembly: modulation quality (EVM, constellation diagrams), wavefront quality, noise figure, bandwidth, optical power budgets, thermalization
• Characterize coherent detection performance: receiver sensitivity, common-mode rejection, and phase noise
• Verify free-space optical performance: wavefront error, encircled energy, pointing stability, stray light rejection

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in optical engineering, applied physics, photonics, electrical engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• 4+ years of hands-on experience designing or building robust, precision electro-optical instruments in fiber, free space, or both
• Working knowledge of one or more areas: coherent detection architectures (IQ modulation/demodulation, balanced detection, optical hybrid operation), free-space optical design (ray tracing, tolerancing, stray light), or laser and fiber systems at the component level
• Proficiency with optical instrumentation (OSAs, power meters, interferometers, collimated beams, wavefront sensors, beam profilers) and RF and microwave test equipment (network analyzers, spectrum analyzers, high-speed oscilloscopes)
• Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance

• Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with optical design and ray tracing software including stray light and ghost analysis
• Experience designing telescopes, beam expanders, or pointing and tracking optical paths with cameras
• Familiarity with space-qualified hardware design, environmental testing (thermal, vibration, radiation), or flight heritage optical systems
• Experience specifying analog PCB requirements for high-bandwidth RF signal chains (TIA, driver amplifiers, bias networks)

What We Offer

• Compensation and Benefits

• Salary dependent on experience (please note that all posted levels for this role route through the same review process; applying to multiple levels will result in duplicate applications)
• Engineer II: $150,000 - $190,000
• Senior Engineer: $170,000 - $210,000
• Staff Engineer: $200,000 - $250,000
• Generous equity package (early team member level)
• 401k program
• Comprehensive health care coverage
• Unlimited PTO (we expect you to take at least 4 weeks per year, and leadership does the same)

• Work Environment

• Hybrid work model: 3 days per week in our office/lab based on project needs
• During critical phases: When we are in integration, test, or launch prep mode, expect to be in the office more frequently for coordination with the mission team
• Expected travel: Up to 25% (customer meetings, supplier visits, launch campaign, partner sites, integration sites, other Ephemeris offices)
• Small team environment
• Autonomy and space to define how we work and execute

Vision and Values

• Ephemeris Net's vision is to enable an open, space internet that anyone can utilize and access.

• We believe that access to better digital connectivity is essential for human progress and that space is the frontier of digital connectivity.

• We believe that collaboration within market competition is the most effective way to expand the internet into space.

• Using Ephemeris Net to build space network solutions is how we can proliferate digital connectivity, collaboration, and "the raising of all boats" while achieving a commercial impact.

• We Care Deeply About Access to connectivity for all

• Collaboration that raises all boats; we focus on win/win deals

• Commercial impact: building solutions people value and buy

• Personal growth and creating a place where people build their careers

• Putting good out into the world through the work we do and our interactions with each other

About Ephemeris Net

We are extending the internet to space. Ephemeris Net is a pre-seed space networking company on a mission to provide connectivity for all space users through collaborative engineering of commercial space networking solutions. We are creating the infrastructure that will enable the space internet beyond bent pipe by laying the foundational networking infrastructure that will define how data moves through space. We are supported by our parent incubator Second Order Effects, institutional VCs, and our network of space advisors. As space use scales and more space native networks come online, we believe that now is the chance to build foundational infrastructure for how the internet will work in space.