Principal Optical Engineer

QuEra Computing, Inc.Boston, MA

About The Position

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.

Requirements

  • 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)

Nice To Haves

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

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).

Benefits

  • equity grants for all new hires
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