Senior Opto-Mech Engineer

$113,385 - $176,030/Yr

Laurel Technologies Partnership - San Diego, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

San Diego, CA

Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

About the position

The Senior Opto-Mechanical Engineer at DRS Daylight Solutions will play a pivotal role in an engineering team dedicated to developing innovative laser components and transitioning them into market-ready products. This position involves a comprehensive range of responsibilities including analysis, modeling, design, prototyping, and testing of laser diode-based lasers and systems. The incumbent will be tasked with requirement flow-down, optical design, mechanical design, and interfacing with critical component suppliers. Additionally, they will be responsible for planning and executing integration and testing processes. A strong understanding of robust opto-mechanical design practices is essential, particularly in areas such as precision mechanisms, kinematics, lasers, and thermal control. The engineer will collaborate with a multi-disciplinary design team to execute optical and mechanical modeling, prototyping, calculations, and finite element analysis (FEA), including STOP analysis and testing. The role requires proficiency in engineering tools such as CAD (Solidworks), Optical Modeling (Zemax), and FEA (ANSYS) to create effective opto-mechanical designs. The engineer will serve as the laser and optical lead for laser systems, guiding projects from early concepts through to product prototypes and initial production units. Responsibilities also include performing engineering analyses using commercially available FEA software or MATLAB, designing and tolerancing complex laser and optical systems using Zemax, and hands-on skills in optical instrumentation and metrology. The engineer will design, build, and align laser-based optical bench setups, assist in rapid prototyping, and ensure the accuracy and completeness of all engineering records and analyses. The ideal candidate will be expected to support programmatic design to cost and design for manufacturability requirements, develop prototypes to mitigate key development risks, and effectively interact with a multi-member, multi-function team, as well as customers and suppliers. The position also emphasizes the importance of supporting and reinforcing the mission, values, and culture of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Uses Engineering tools such as CAD (Solidworks), Optical Modeling (Zemax) and FEA (ANSYS) to create opto-mechanical designs
• Serve as the laser and optical lead for the laser systems ranging from early concepts to product prototypes to initial production units
• Perform engineering analysis using commercially available FEA software or MATLAB (e.g., tolerance stack, optical, structural, heat transfer, vibrations, fluids)
• Use Zemax to design and tolerance complex laser and optical systems
• Use Zemax to design and tolerance imaging systems
• Hands-on skill in optical instrumentation and metrology
• Design, build and align laser based optical bench setups
• Assist in rapid prototyping/modifying hardware. (Exposure to hand tools, band saw, vertical mill, and/or lathe)
• Learn and maintain Daylight drafting standards when creating drawings and assembly procedures
• Ensure accuracy and completeness of all drawings, engineering records, analyses, and tasks of assigned projects
• Responsible for completion of assigned tasks on time and meeting technical requirements
• Supports programmatic design to cost and design for manufacturability requirements
• Develops prototypes to retire key development risks as directed
• Interact effectively and efficiently as part of a multi-member, multi-function team, as well as with customers and suppliers, write reports and contribute peer reviewed publications and invention disclosures
• Supports, communicates, reinforces, and defends the mission, values, and culture of the organization

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering (Masters Preferred) or related technical field with a minimum of 5 years of experience (optical/laser related industry is preferred)
• Intermediate to expert level knowledge of Zemax Optic Studio ray tracing design software
• Working knowledge of both sequential and non-sequential simulations
• Laser optical system design experience preferred
• Experience using merit functions, configurations, tolerance scripts, macros, DLLs, and ZOS-API
• Proficient Solidworks user to create designs
• Proficient at aligning and integrating complex optical table setups
• Laser packaging experience
• Experience with multimode, single mode and polarization maintaining fiber
• Proficient ANSYS, Abaqus, or other commercially available FEA software for structural and thermal analysis
• Precision machine design and assembly
• Proficient at Matlab, Python or C++
• Fluency in technologies and application domain
• Ability to lead a technical group independently

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• 401k match
• 9/80 work schedule
• Tuition Assistance