Salary Range: $170,000.00 - $220,000.00

Principal Optical Engineer

Imaging Systems Architecture & Advanced Lens Design

$170,000–$220,000+ Compensation Package New England

Position Summary

We are seeking an accomplished Principal Optical Engineer to serve as a key technical leader in the development of next-generation optical and imaging systems for groundbreaking medical and satellite/aerospace/defense technologies.

In this highly visible role, you will architect sophisticated optical solutions that push the boundaries of imaging performance, enabling products that improve patient outcomes, enhance mission-critical decision-making, and solve some of the industry's most complex engineering challenges. Working at the intersection of optics, sensor technologies, illumination systems, and computational imaging, you will guide the development of innovative products from early concept through commercialization and production deployment.

As the organization's senior technical authority in imaging system architecture and lens design, you will provide strategic technical leadership across a diverse portfolio of programs, influencing product direction, design methodologies, and technology roadmaps. You will collaborate directly with customers, multidisciplinary engineering teams, suppliers, and executive stakeholders to transform ambitious requirements into robust, manufacturable, and high-performance optical systems.

This is a hands-on leadership position for an engineer who thrives on solving complex technical challenges, mentoring the next generation of optical engineers, and delivering elegant solutions in highly regulated, performance-driven environments. The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in optical system design with a passion for innovation, technical excellence, and customer success.

Why This Role Is Exciting

  • Architect advanced imaging systems used in life-saving medical devices and mission-critical aerospace and defense applications.
  • Lead the development of cutting-edge optical technologies spanning visible, fluorescence, multispectral, hyperspectral, infrared, and computational imaging.
  • Influence product direction and optical technology strategy while taking designs from concept through production and commercialization.
  • Engage directly with customers as a trusted technical advisor while collaborating with multidisciplinary engineering teams.
  • Explore emerging technologies including freeform optics, AI-assisted design, advanced materials, metasurfaces, computational imaging, and next-generation electro-optical sensing.

What You'll Lead

  • As a Principal Optical Engineer, you will provide hands-on technical leadership across the full optical product-development lifecycle—from system architecture and advanced lens design through verification, manufacturing, and commercialization.
  • Architect advanced imaging and electro-optical systems, translating demanding customer and product requirements into high-performance, manufacturable solutions for medical and aerospace/defense applications.
  • Lead advanced lens design, optimization, and tolerancing using OpticStudio (Zemax), including multi-configuration systems, athermalization, automated design workflows, and production-yield optimization.
  • Drive EO sensor-coupled imaging architecture, making critical system-level tradeoffs involving sensor selection, pixel size, aperture, depth of field, image quality, optical efficiency, illumination, and the allocation of correction between optical and digital processing.
  • Guide designs from concept through production, balancing optical performance with manufacturability, tolerance sensitivity, yield, reliability, cost, and regulatory requirements.
  • Lead optical analysis and verification, including stray-light and ghost analysis, optical materials and coatings, metrology, characterization, and design verification.
  • Serve as the Optical Technical Lead on key programs, driving design reviews, technical risk assessments, critical engineering decisions, and resolution of complex optical performance issues.
  • Partner directly with customers and suppliers, leading technical discussions, OEM design-in activities, design reviews, requirements development, and resolution of challenging technical issues.
  • Provide multidisciplinary technical leadership, collaborating across optics, mechanics, electronics, sensors, software, image processing, manufacturing, quality, and systems engineering.
  • Mentor and develop optical engineers, while advancing design methodologies, engineering best practices, supplier specifications, and verification approaches across the organization.
  • Contribute to innovation and business growth through technical proposals, customer presentations, capability demonstrations, new technology evaluation, and invention disclosures.

What You'll Bring

  • Bachelor's degree in Optics, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a closely related technical discipline, with 15+ years of progressive optical engineering experience, demonstrated leadership of complex imaging-system architecture and product development; M.S. strongly preferred, with Ph.D. and 10+ years of relevant industry experience also considered.
  • Expert-level capability in OpticStudio (Zemax) for advanced lens design, optimization, tolerancing, multi-configuration analysis, athermalization, and production-yield optimization.
  • Deep experience architecting EO sensor-coupled imaging systems, including sensor selection and system-level optical/performance tradeoffs.
  • Broad expertise spanning optical tolerancing, metrology, fabrication, coatings, stray-light analysis, illumination, and design verification.
  • Strong MATLAB and/or Python capability for modeling, analysis, automation, and engineering-tool development.
  • Experience translating complex customer requirements into robust, manufacturable optical systems and leading designs from concept through verification and production.
  • Demonstrated technical leadership in multidisciplinary and customer-facing environments, including design reviews, technical decision-making, mentoring, and supplier interaction.
  • Experience with formal product-development processes and design controls in medical device, aerospace/defense, or similarly regulated industries; knowledge of ISO 10110 strongly preferred.

Additional Expertise That Will Set You Apart

No candidate is expected to bring expertise in every area below. However, experience in several of these technologies would be especially valuable:

  • Computational imaging and integrated optimization of optical and image-processing performance.
  • Fluorescence, multispectral, or hyperspectral imaging systems.
  • Infrared imaging, including MWIR/LWIR systems, advanced IR materials, radiometric analysis, and diamond-turning considerations.
  • Freeform optics for compact imaging, surgical visualization, AR, wearable, or other space-constrained applications.
  • Polymer optics, including injection- and compression-molded optical components.
  • Polarization-based imaging systems and associated optical components.
  • Diffractive optical elements (DOEs), metasurfaces, and other emerging optical technologies.
  • Laser and illumination systems, including beam shaping, beam combining, fiber coupling, fiber-optic illumination, and laser-delivery architectures.
  • LiDAR, time-of-flight (ToF), and other advanced electro-optical sensing technologies.
  • AI-assisted optical design and engineering tools for design exploration, optimization, automation, and productivity.
  • Integrated electro-optical systems combining optics, sensors, electronics, embedded hardware, software, and image processing.
  • FDA-regulated medical-device development, including Design Controls, Design History Files (DHF), design verification/validation, and 510(k) submissions.

Location, Travel & Work Environment

This New England-based position combines office-based engineering with regular work in optical laboratories, metrology facilities, and controlled manufacturing environments, including cleanrooms. Approximately 15–30% travel is expected to customer sites, suppliers, technical conferences, and other company locations.

Because the company operates in an ITAR-regulated environment, candidates must meet applicable U.S. export-control requirements. The position also requires the ability to work with precision optical components and laboratory equipment and occasionally lift equipment or materials weighing up to 25 pounds.


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