What are the responsibilities and job description for the 3 More Engineers position at Optical Society of Southern California?
Author Last Post
Unsig Min
11/11/2025 12:53 PM
I plan to hire multiple Engineers.
If you have these skills, please send me your resume with the Job title in the email subject.
Thanks,
Unsig Min
umin@blueorigin.com
Role Summary
As the Senior System Architect for our next-generation optical communications program, you will define the end-to-end technical vision for a system designed to set new standards in space-based connectivity. You will own the architecture for an Optical Communications system, translating ambitious mission objectives into a resilient, high-performance system ready for the space environment.
The Mission
You will be responsible for architecting the optical communications terminals. Your decisions will balance link margin, pointing precision, and deterministic throughput under challenging constraints. The architecture and trades you lead will form the technical foundation of the program, enabling the team to achieve critical design and performance milestones.
Core Responsibilities
Architecture & System Trades
Minimum Qualifications
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
Role Summary
As an Opto-Mechanical Engineer, you will lead the mechanical design for the optical heart of a communications terminal. You will be responsible for a telescope and precision pointing system that must maintain wavefront quality and angular stability in the harsh environment of space. You will own the physical system from concept and material selection through final assembly and validation.
The Mission
You will design and build the precision opto-mechanical systems at the core of a next-generation optical communications terminal. Your work will involve making critical design trades, managing key suppliers, and closing tolerance budgets to ensure the system achieves its unprecedented performance goals.
Core Responsibilities
Opto-Mechanical Design Leadership
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
Role Summary
As a Structural & Thermal Engineer focused on STOP analysis, you will serve as the analytical backbone, ensuring our optical systems achieve peak performance from launch through on-orbit operations. You will own the integrated Structural, Thermal, and Optical Performance (STOP) analysis, and your models will directly guide critical opto-mechanical design decisions.
The Mission
You will be the engineer who answers the critical question: "Will this system meet its optical performance requirements in space?" Through high-fidelity modeling, simulation, and rigorous uncertainty quantification, your analyses will provide the foundation of confidence that our designs are robust against the challenges of launch and the space environment.
Core Responsibilities
Integrated STOP Analysis
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
Unsig Min
11/11/2025 12:53 PM
I plan to hire multiple Engineers.
If you have these skills, please send me your resume with the Job title in the email subject.
Thanks,
Unsig Min
umin@blueorigin.com
- Senior System Architect – Optical Communications
Role Summary
As the Senior System Architect for our next-generation optical communications program, you will define the end-to-end technical vision for a system designed to set new standards in space-based connectivity. You will own the architecture for an Optical Communications system, translating ambitious mission objectives into a resilient, high-performance system ready for the space environment.
The Mission
You will be responsible for architecting the optical communications terminals. Your decisions will balance link margin, pointing precision, and deterministic throughput under challenging constraints. The architecture and trades you lead will form the technical foundation of the program, enabling the team to achieve critical design and performance milestones.
Core Responsibilities
Architecture & System Trades
- Establish the end-to-end mission architecture, including wavelength selection, link geometry, autonomy and redundancy strategies, and initial allocations for size, weight, power, and thermal (SWaP-T).
- Drive system-level trades for the terminal's aperture, converging on an optimal balance of link margin, pointing accuracy, throughput, structural stiffness, and thermal management.
- Flow down performance budgets to all subsystems (Optics, PAT, Modem, Electronics) with rigorous Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and calibration strategies.
- Integrate Structural-Thermal-Optical Performance (STOP) analysis into system budgets and define clear acceptance criteria for hardware verification and vendor Statements of Work (SOWs).
- Define the PAT concept of operations and control architecture, including the selection and design of the filters, acquisition scan patterns, and beacon strategies.
- Model, simulate, and allocate budgets for key performance parameters such as capture probability, acquisition timelines, residual jitter, and pointing loss to ensure link closure.
- Develop a validation strategy for PAT algorithms from simulation advanced mirror materials.
- Architect the complete digital modem stack, including multi-lane SerDes aggregation, deterministic DMA/memory subsystems, and clocking strategies for coherent or incoherent schemes.
- Define the modem's development and verification path with calibrated loss models.
- Ensure deterministic latency, fault tolerance, and resilience to radiation and other space environmental effects across all digital interfaces.
- Author and manage core systems engineering documents, including ICDs, requirements flow-down, and comprehensive verification and validation plans.
- Identify technical risks and maintain parallel risk-mitigation paths (e.g., alternative components or materials) to protect project schedule and performance margin.
- Lead architecture reviews, present trade studies to stakeholders, and serve as the primary technical authority for the system design.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, or a related field with 7 years of relevant experience (M.S./Ph.D. preferred).
- End-to-end system design experience in high-throughput optical communications (free-space or fiber).
- Mastery of optical link budget analysis, including pointing loss, atmospheric/diffraction effects, jitter coupling, and capture probability modeling.
- Demonstrated experience in designing and analyzing PAT control systems (e.g., filters, scan strategies, beacon processing).
- Strong background in FPGA/ASIC modem architecture, including SerDes interfaces, deterministic memory/DMA design, and high-speed data path considerations (FEC, framing, synchronization).
- Proven systems engineering rigor in authoring ICDs, decomposing requirements, and developing verification plans for complex spaceflight or aerospace systems.
- Experience with radiation-hardened design principles, including SEU mitigation and selection of radiation-tolerant components.
- Experience with optical systems, particularly with straylight and contamination control considerations.
- Familiarity with space hardware development lifecycles and standards (e.g., DO-254, ECSS).
- Experience in designing built-in-test (BIT), telemetry, and fault management systems.
- Hands-on experience with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) validation.
- Knowledge of coherent and incoherent detection methods or advanced modulation formats.
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
- Opto-Mechanical Engineer
Role Summary
As an Opto-Mechanical Engineer, you will lead the mechanical design for the optical heart of a communications terminal. You will be responsible for a telescope and precision pointing system that must maintain wavefront quality and angular stability in the harsh environment of space. You will own the physical system from concept and material selection through final assembly and validation.
The Mission
You will design and build the precision opto-mechanical systems at the core of a next-generation optical communications terminal. Your work will involve making critical design trades, managing key suppliers, and closing tolerance budgets to ensure the system achieves its unprecedented performance goals.
Core Responsibilities
Opto-Mechanical Design Leadership
- Lead the mechanical design of the telescope structure, incorporating precision alignment features, kinematic mounts, and athermal design principles.
- Develop and close comprehensive tolerance budgets for Wavefront Error (WFE) and alignment stability, informed by STOP analysis.
- Engineer robust solutions for straylight and ghost suppression, including baffle design, scatter control strategies, and optical coating specifications.
- Author and manage contamination control plans and cleanliness procedures.
- Ensure designs are optimized for manufacturability, assembly, and alignment (DFMA), defining all necessary tooling and Ground Support Equipment (GSE).
- Lead the development path and trade studies for mirror materials, evaluating CTE stability, specific stiffness, polishability, surface finish, and thermal performance.
- Draft detailed Statements of Work (SOWs) for vendors, defining technical requirements and acceptance test criteria for optical components.
- Manage vendor relationships, conduct design reviews, and analyze manufacturing and test data to ensure compliance.
- Collaborate closely with the STOP analyst to define stiffness targets that mitigate jitter and gravity release effects.
- Integrate thermal control hardware (thermal straps, heaters, radiators) and cable management solutions compatible with precision gimbal motion.
- Perform hand calculations and preliminary FEA to rapidly validate design concepts and inform detailed analysis cycles.
- Plan and oversee environmental qualification tests, including thermal cycling, dimensional stability, and vibration testing.
- Provide hands-on support for optical alignment, system integration, and metrology activities in the lab.
- Refine designs based on straylight test data and validate the effectiveness of contamination control procedures during assembly.
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field with 7 years of relevant experience (M.S./Ph.D. preferred).
- Demonstrated experience in designing telescopes or similar precision optical instruments for space or aerospace applications.
- Proven expertise in straylight analysis, contamination control, baffle design, and coating selection for sensitive optical systems.
- Hands-on experience with advanced mirror materials, including an understanding of their fabrication, polishing, and testing methods.
- Experience integrating mechanical designs with structural, thermal, and optical performance analyses.
- Proficiency in a major CAD package (e.g., PTC Creo, Siemens NX) for detailed mechanical design.
- Direct experience using STOP analysis to drive mechanical design decisions.
- Experience with space environmental testing (thermal cycling, vibration, TVAC) and test-model correlation.
- Design or integration experience with precision pointing mechanisms or gimbals for space.
- Knowledge of athermalization techniques for optical systems.
- Experience developing and executing optical alignment procedures using interferometry and other metrology tools.
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
- Structural & Thermal Engineer
Role Summary
As a Structural & Thermal Engineer focused on STOP analysis, you will serve as the analytical backbone, ensuring our optical systems achieve peak performance from launch through on-orbit operations. You will own the integrated Structural, Thermal, and Optical Performance (STOP) analysis, and your models will directly guide critical opto-mechanical design decisions.
The Mission
You will be the engineer who answers the critical question: "Will this system meet its optical performance requirements in space?" Through high-fidelity modeling, simulation, and rigorous uncertainty quantification, your analyses will provide the foundation of confidence that our designs are robust against the challenges of launch and the space environment.
Core Responsibilities
Integrated STOP Analysis
- Perform coupled STOP analysis by integrating your structural and thermal predictions with the optical design model (via ray-tracing or sensitivity matrices).
- Derive, allocate, and close optical performance budgets (e.g., alignment, WFE) in collaboration with optical and mechanical engineers.
- Bound system sensitivities to environmental and structural inputs (temperature gradients, launch loads) and propose effective design mitigations.
- Build and maintain high-fidelity Finite Element (FEA) models to analyze modal response, random vibration (PSD), shock, and quasi-static loads.
- Analyze and mitigate the effects of gravity release and mount preloads on optical alignment and surface figure.
- Quantify structural stiffness and jitter transfer functions to ensure fine-pointing stability and performance.
- Develop detailed thermal models to simulate radiation, conduction, and active thermal control systems (heaters, straps, radiators).
- Manage thermal dissipation and ensure optical stability across all operational and survival modes, including eclipse transitions and slews.
- Translate thermoelastic distortions from your models into quantified impacts on optical performance, such as focus shifts and alignment drift.
- Define a comprehensive model validation plan, specifying instrumentation requirements (accelerometers, thermocouples, strain gauges) for environmental testing.
- Correlate analytical models with thermal-vacuum (TVAC) and vibration test data, iterating as needed to improve predictive accuracy.
- Develop and present the definitive evidence package for system feasibility, including model pedigree, uncertainty analysis, and sensitivity studies.
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field with 7 years of relevant experience (M.S./Ph.D. preferred).
- Expertise in FEA for precision space structures, with proven experience in modal/dynamic analysis, random vibration, and thermoelastic distortion.
- Deep understanding of passive and active thermal control systems and analysis for space applications.
- Strong skills in uncertainty quantification, including probabilistic analysis, Monte Carlo methods, and sensitivity studies.
- Proficiency with relevant analysis software (FEA: Nastran, Ansys, or Abaqus; Thermal: Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, or similar).
- Mastery of coupling structural/thermal models with optical design tools (Zemax, Code V, or similar).
- Experience with the unique challenges of telescopes, complex optics, or gimbaled systems.
- Background in designing low-jitter structures, including the use of isolation systems or damping.
- Experience with test correlation, including pre-test analysis and post-test model updates for TVAC or vibration campaigns.
- Proficiency in a scripting language (Python, MATLAB) for data analysis, process automation, and parametric studies.
We're building a diverse team of passionate builders. Job descriptions are not perfect checklists. If you're excited about this mission but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply—you may be the right candidate for this or other roles.
