Sr. Optical Engineer

Work Schedule

Environmental Conditions

Job Description

Position Summary:

The Senior Optical Engineer - Spectroscopy & Optical System, will contribute to the design, development and continuous improvement of Spectroscopy and optical system products. Working in a multidisciplinary engineering environment, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to develop innovative electron optics solutions that deliver outstanding imaging performance, product quality and customer value with competitive cost.

This position offers the opportunity to apply deep technical expertise in electron optics throughout the product development lifecycle, from concept development and system design to verification, product enhancement and sustaining engineering.  

Key Responsibilities:

Optical System Development

• Design, develop and optimize optical systems for spectroscopy and analytical instruments.
• Contribute to the development of optical subsystems including light sources, optical paths, mirrors, lenses, filters, beam splitters, monochromators, gratings, optical fibers and detectors.
• Support optical system integration across multiple spectroscopy platforms. Develop electron optics models, alignment methodologies, calibration procedures and verification approaches to support robust product performance.

Optical Design & Analysis

• Perform optical design, tolerance analysis and performance optimization.
• Evaluate optical throughput, spectral resolution, wavelength accuracy, stray light, signal-to-noise ratio and overall optical performance.
• Develop optical alignment, calibration and verification methodologies.
• Support optical simulation and modeling using appropriate optical design tools

Optical Integration

• Collaborate with electronics, mechanics, software and systems engineering teams to integrate optical subsystems into complete instruments.
• Support prototype integration, engineering verification and product validation.
• Investigate optical performance issues through laboratory characterization and Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

Product Development

• Support new product development, product enhancement and sustaining engineering activities.
• Participate in design reviews, engineering documentation and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Contribute to reusable optical design methodologies and engineering best practices.

Qualifications:

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's, Master's or Ph.D. degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Applied Physics, Photonics or a related discipline.
• Typically 8+ years of experience in optical system development.
• Strong understanding of geometrical optics, physical optics and optical system integration.
• Experience designing optical systems for scientific, analytical, industrial or medical instrumentation.
• Experience with optical alignment, calibration and laboratory characterization.
• Familiarity with optical design and simulation tools such as Zemax, Code V, LightTools or equivalent.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Excellent analytical, communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary and global engineering teams.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in one or more of the following areas is highly desirable:

Spectroscopy

• FTIR
• Raman Spectroscopy
• qPCR Optical Systems (e.g. QuantStudio)
• Fluorescence Spectroscopy
• XRF
• ICP-OES (iCAP)
• Plate Readers (e.g. Varioskan)  
• UV-Visible Spectroscopy

Optical Components

• Light sources, like Lasers, LEDs, Xeon Lamp, D2 Lamp, Tungsten Lamp
• Optical fibers
• Mirror, Lens, Prism
• Diffraction gratings
• Monochromators
• Beam splitters
• Interference filters
• CCD/CMOS detectors
• PMTs
• Photodiode.

Optical Engineering

• Optical alignment
• Optical tolerance analysis
• Stray light analysis
• Spectral calibration
• Optical throughput optimization
• Detector integration
• Thermal effects on optical performance.

Product Development

• Product development
• Product enhancement
• Sustaining engineering
• Optical verification and validation
• Multidisciplinary engineering collaboration.