Demo

Principal Optical Engineer

Barrington James
Boston, MA Full Time
POSTED ON 1/5/2026 CLOSED ON 1/12/2026

What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Optical Engineer position at Barrington James?

The Hardware Engineering Group at my client 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.


Key Job Responsibilities


  • Optical module design and development
  • Work with physicists to understand requirements and architect optical systems, sub-systems, modules, and components to support my clients 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 my client 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).
  • Qualifications


    Required:


    • 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)

    Preferred:


    • Experience with quantum computing, especially neutral atom
    • Professional work experience in commercial product development and off-site product deployment at customer premises.
  • The approximate base salary range for this position is $151,200 - $236,250.


    We consistently monitor external market data and update base salary ranges accordingly. We determine base compensation decisions on several factors, including as geographic placement, role-specific knowledge, skills, and/or experience. In addition to our base salary offerings, we also provide equity grants for all new hires.

    Salary : $151,200 - $236,250

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