Senior Electro-Optical Engineer
$180,000–$250,000 year
On-siteRedondo Beach, California, United States
Job Summary
Own the technical development of flight camera systems and optical payloads from concept through flight. Define requirements, drive architecture trades, and make key decisions across optics, detector selection, embedded camera interfaces, opto-mechanics, thermal design, and calibration strategy. Partner with embedded software, avionics, mechanical, thermal, manufacturing, and test teams to bring up, validate, and mature hardware. Lead subsystem integration, test planning, issue resolution, and performance closure for electro-optical flight hardware. Drive execution with high autonomy, including risk retirement, prioritization, vendor coordination, and communication of technical status to leadership.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field
- 6+ years of experience developing complex hardware systems in at least one relevant domain: camera systems, embedded imaging systems, electro-optical payloads, opto-mechanics, or optical systems
- Demonstrated experience owning a subsystem, product, or major technical workstream through development and test
- Strong cross-functional engineering judgment and the ability to translate mission needs into practical hardware decisions
- Hands-on experience debugging and maturing real hardware in a lab, integration, or production environment
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Experience developing flight cameras, imaging payloads, optical navigation systems, electro-optical spacecraft hardware, or other precision imaging systems
- Strong core competency in one or more of the following: camera embedded software, electro-optical hardware, opto-mechanics, or optical system design
- Experience with CMOS image sensors, camera electronics, detector bring-up, image pipelines, or embedded camera software
- Experience with optical design and analysis tools such as Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, or similar
- Experience with calibration, image quality characterization, and environmental test of precision imaging systems
- Space hardware experience, including qualification, acceptance, launch survivability, and spacecraft integration
- Prior experience operating as a responsible engineer, technical lead, principal investigator, or product-facing engineering owner
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