Laser Safety Engineer

QuEra Computing, Inc.•Boston, MA

About The Position

Laser Systems is QuEra's horizontal laser infrastructure program. The team owns the full lifecycle of laser systems across all machine generations and across our sites in the US, Japan, and the UK. The Laser Safety Engineer owns end-to-end laser safety by design. The work sits at the architecture and design stage, where protection is layered into the system: optics and coating selection, beam path routing, containment, scattered light detection, interlocks, and access control. Protective eyewear sits last in that order, behind the engineering controls above it. Scope begins at the light source and follows the beam through free space and optical fiber to wherever the light is used. It covers heterogeneous setups on optical tables and off them, in rack-mounted chassis and on free-standing benches, whether deployed, under build, or in development. Designs from HQ reach QuEra sites worldwide. The role works with the Laser Safety Officers and the local scientists and engineers in the UK and Japan, and with QuEra's Laser Safety Officer in Facilities, who holds the regulatory role and site-wide program authority.

Requirements

B.S. or M.S. in Physics, Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field; equivalent hands-on experience will be considered
Hands-on experience with Class 3B and Class 4 laser systems, including high power sources
Laser safety engineering built and used on real hardware, such as containment, interlocks, or hazard analysis
Working knowledge of ANSI Z136 or IEC 60825, and experience applying them to non-standard system configurations
Competence in optical power measurement, beam characterization, and stray light assessment
Credibility with practicing laser scientists and engineers, and clear written and verbal communication

Nice To Haves

Certified Laser Safety Officer or equivalent formal laser safety training; support is available to pursue certification
Experience with fiber amplifiers, frequency conversion, or free-space high power delivery
Experience in research or prototype environments where hardware configurations change frequently
Background in AMO experiments, cold atom, or quantum hardware platforms
Experience coordinating safety practice across multiple international sites
Experience defining safety requirements for automated or software-controlled hardware

Responsibilities

Own beam path safety review as a formal design gate for laser modules and systems, covering parasitic and scattered paths as well as primary paths
Specify layered protection at the design stage: optics and coating selection, beam containment, enclosures, beam dumps, and stray light management
Address fiber-borne hazards, including connector and end-face integrity, uncontrolled emission from damaged or disconnected fiber, and high power fiber delivery
Define scattered and stray radiation detection, including sensor selection, placement, thresholds, and integration with system telemetry
Design interlock and access control architecture across enclosures, doors, and emergency stop, with fail-safe behavior and machine-readable interlock state for automated operation
Retrofit containment and interlocks on deployed setups
Perform hazard analysis, define laser controlled area boundaries, and write laser safety acceptance criteria into module and system acceptance test procedures
Run hazard surveys and periodic spot checks across setups, investigate incidents and near misses, and specify PPE by area
Own laser safety standards for the team across ANSI Z136, IEC and BS EN 60825, and JIS C 6802, and align QuEra practice across the three regimes
Work with the Laser Safety Officers and the local scientists and engineers at our UK and Japan sites to select protection methods per configuration, review local builds, and audit on site
Partner with Scientists, Engineers, and Facilities so that safety requirements are coherently applied in design