Sr. Optical Safety Engineer

Apple•Cupertino, CA

About The Position

Apple’s Product Safety Engineering group within Product Integrity ensures that products meet global safety standards while supporting innovation. The Sr. Optical Safety Engineer serves as the Directly Responsible Individual for laser and LED product safety, owning the safety strategy and compliance for optical systems across Apple’s consumer and professional product lines throughout the product lifecycle, from early design through certification and mass production. The role partners with hardware, optical, firmware, regulatory, legal, operations, supplier, and contract-manufacturing teams to identify and address optical safety risks. It leads compliance efforts, hazard analysis, safety testing, technical reporting, and third-party certification for laser, LED, structured-light, time-of-flight, and fiber-optic systems. The engineer also develops safety specifications and manufacturing acceptance criteria, investigates failures, and communicates technical findings to regulatory authorities, engineering teams, and executives. The position may also support broader ICT product certification when optical subsystems interface with server or communications infrastructure. The posting identifies experience with IEC 62368-1, the IECEE CB Scheme, FCC, and CISPR as an advantage.

Requirements

Master’s degree in Physics, Optical Physics, Electro-Optics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related field, plus 2 to 8 years of directly relevant experience in optical safety or photonics engineering.
At least 2 years of hands-on experience characterizing optical and optoelectronic devices, including laser sources, LEDs, photodetectors, and fiber-optic components.
Experience performing optical hazard analysis, accessible emission limit (AEL) calculations, and optical power or irradiance measurements.
Experience conducting FMEA and Fault Tree Analysis in a product-safety context.
Experience managing technical relationships with external test laboratories, vendors, and certification bodies to develop and qualify product designs.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain optical safety requirements to non-specialists and write reports for regulatory bodies.
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills and comfort working across hardware engineering, legal, regulatory affairs, and operations teams with competing priorities.
Ability to work independently while contributing reliably to a team.
Organization and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams accurately.
Comfort presenting technical findings and recommendations to engineering and executive audiences.

Nice To Haves

PhD in Physics, Optical Physics, Electro-Optics, or Electrical Engineering, with new-graduate to 1 year of industry experience, or a PhD with 2 to 4 years of industry experience in optical safety, laser systems, or related photonics applications.
Working knowledge of IEC 60825-1, IEC 62741, and IEC 60825-2, with the ability to apply these standards to product architectures without supervision.
Familiarity with ICT product certification frameworks, including IEC 62368-1, the CB Scheme, FCC Part 15/18, and CISPR 32/35, particularly for data center or server products.
Proficiency with data analysis, optical modeling, and automation tools such as MATLAB, Python, COMSOL, or Zemax.
Experience with manufacturing process audits and supplier quality for photonic or electro-optic assemblies.
Familiarity with IEC TR 60825-14 or IEC 60825-12.
Experience supporting communications-equipment certification such as IEC 62368-1, the IECEE CB Scheme, FCC, or CISPR.

Responsibilities

Serve as the technical DRI for laser and LED product safety, owning compliance across the product lifecycle from concept to mass production.
Develop product-level understanding and work with hardware, optical engineering, firmware, operations, and legal teams to identify and resolve optical safety risks early in design.
Lead safety compliance testing, prepare technical reports, and drive third-party certification for optical and photonic systems to IEC 60825-1, IEC 60825-2, IEC 62471, and applicable regional variants such as EN, UL, and CSA.
Apply Design of Experiments, FMEA, and Fault Tree Analysis to characterize risk and drive root-cause resolution.
Develop and maintain optical safety specifications, test protocols, and acceptance criteria for supplier qualification and manufacturing audits.
Work with suppliers and contract manufacturers to ensure optical safety requirements are implemented and maintained through production.
Conduct failure analysis and document lessons learned to prevent recurrence across product families.
Support communications-equipment certification, including IEC 62368-1, the IECEE CB Scheme, FCC, and CISPR, where optical subsystems intersect with broader ICT certification.
Communicate optical safety requirements to non-specialists, prepare reports suitable for regulatory submission, and present findings and recommendations to engineering and executive audiences.
Manage technical relationships with external test laboratories, vendors, and certification bodies to develop and qualify product designs.