Principal Optical Engineer

About the role

The Hardware Engineering Group at QuEra Computing is seeking strong candidates for a Principal Optical Engineer to serve as a senior individual contributor to the company's mission of building state-of-the-art, manufacturable, and deployable neutral atom quantum computers.

The Hardware Engineering Group plays a crucial role in accelerating the company's technology leadership and translating the company's scientific breakthroughs into products delivered to customers. To accomplish this mission, we are looking to hire a candidate with graduate-level education in optics, optical engineering, or applied physics with industry experience in an enterprise engineering environment.

The ideal candidate will combine a deep, fundamental understanding of several areas of optics, design, and engineering. Although candidates with a Ph.D. in physics may be considered, applicants should ensure they have sufficient professional experience beyond academia in an enterprise engineering environment to establish themselves independently as a Principal-level engineer.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Optical module design and development
• Work with physicists to understand requirements and architect optical systems, sub-systems, modules, and components to support QuEra's neutral atom computers through the full development lifecycle (R&D, productization, maintenance, and beyond).
• Technically lead an interdisciplinary team of engineers (optical, electronic, mechanical, etc.) through the product development process to take an optical module from early phase concept through to implementation and production.
• Advance state-of-the-art engineering practices at QuEra through independent research, problem-solving, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Coordinate closely with the R&D/science team to enable cutting-edge R&D and translate scientific advances into the next generation of products.
• Troubleshoot technical issues at company headquarters and off-site installations at customer locations (in coordination with local support team).

Qualifications

Required

• Master's degree in optics, optical engineering, applied physics, or a closely related field.
• 10-15 years non-academic work experience. Experience at an enterprise scale as well as startup preferred.
• Deep experience and knowledge of
• Free-space optics
• Lens design
• Fiber optics
• Lasers
• Optical system characterization and testing
• Opto-mechanics
• Experience bringing complex optical systems from concept to production
• Expertise with using Mechanical CAD software (e.g. Inventor, Solidworks), Product Data Management (PDM) software, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software
• Expertise with Optical simulation software (e.g. Zemax)

Preferred

• Experience with quantum computing, especially neutral atom
• Professional work experience in commercial product development and off-site product deployment at customer premises.

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Pay and benefits

The approximate base salary range for this position is $180,000 - $220,000.

We consistently monitor external market data and update base salary ranges accordingly. We determine base compensation decisions on several factors, including as geographic placement, role-specific knowledge, skills, and/or experience. In addition to our base salary offerings, we also provide equity grants for all new hires.