Optical Engineering Manager

SUMMARY:

The Optical Engineering Manager is responsible for the technical leadership, oversight and direction of, and the mentoring of the optical engineering team.  In addition to these organizational roles, this position will lead the review and approval of optical designs and related reports as well as optical component drawings.  They will also insure and develop best practices, help facilitate successful hand-off to mechanical and system engineering teams, and act as primary optical engineering interface for other organizational dependencies.  Sales and program management is supported thru direct review of customer specifications, development of preliminary designs, and delivery of work package estimates.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Management:

• Work alongside leadership to develop and maintain a culture of ownership and innovation across the optical engineering team; encourage and lead regular collaboration and peer review.
• Reduce design requirements from customer specifications and drawings into actionable tasks and deliverables; assign and track progress across the team to insure timely and cost effective completion.
• Provide status updates and advise on resource loading to program management and senior management.
• Create detailed engineering plans, processes, and procedures for engineering department.
• Direct and supervise the optical engineering and design team, including conflict resolution and annual performance reviews of direct reports.  Annual performance reviews include assessment of past performance, goal and target setting for future performance, and opportunities for professional development (technical training, cross training with other departments, and/or personal development training).

RESPONSIBILITIES (CONTINUED):

Technical:

• Serve as the primary contact and technical lead on select projects providing innovative, reliable, and cost effective solutions.
• Excellent knowledge of optical design, tolerancing, and athermalization of complex opto-mechanical assemblies and test equipment used in the qualification thereof.
• Preparation, review, and presentation (when serving as technical lead) of design attributes and deliverables in support of preliminary and critical design review phases of projects.
• Serve as primary engineer for final review and approval of optical models and technical drawing packages; including tolerances, manufacturability of lenses, testing methodology and validation/verification of results.
• Lead efforts of optical group in troubleshooting, problem solving, optical performance analysis, and identification and documentation of root cause/corrective action.

Sales and Business Development:

• Support bid and proposal efforts thru specification review and feedback of specifications, risk analyses, estimation of effort and timeline, and preliminary designs (where appropriate).
• Spearhead various research and development initiatives to identify opportunities for new projects and improved processes.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Advanced Degree: MS or PhD in Physics, Astronomy, Optics, Optical Engineering, or equivalent.
• Related experience: > 10 years in the area of lens design, metrology, and system integration.
• Prior experience managing in an ISO-9001 and ISO-13485 environment is highly desirable
• Individual should have demonstrable knowledge and commercial experience and proficiency with:

a.            Proficiency in optical design and tolerancing using ZEMAX and/or CODE V.

b.            Experience with software tools to automate optical design and analysis tasks (e.g., CODE V and ZEMAX macro languages, Python, Matlab, etc.)

c.             Working knowledge of thin film physics and fabrication.

d.            Microsoft Office (Word, Power Point, Excel, Project)

e.            Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) standards

f.             ISO 10110 standards for dimensioning and detailing optical components.

g.            New Production Introduction (NPI) process development and execution

REQUIREMENTS (CONTINUED):

• Working knowledge of opto-mechanical mounting and assembly techniques to achieve micron level precision alignment and survive exposure to environmental extremes (thermal, pressure, humidity, shock, vibration).
• Familiarity with illumination and scattered light analysis using ZEMAX, FRED, or LightTools is a plus.
• Experience in project management and leading a small team of engineers/designers is preferred.
• Required Intangible Assets / Attributes:

a.            Professional and calm demeanor

b.            Honesty, integrity, and trust

c.             Detail oriented with commitment to excellence

REQUIREMENTS (CONTINUED):

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Comfortable presenting to and communicating with cross-functional groups at multiple levels of corporate structure.
• Superior interpersonal skills with demonstrated competencies in team building, influencing and negotiation and conflict management.
• Proactive, hands-on management style.
• May require travel (up to 10%) in support of customer and corporate meetings.
• In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

The physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use of hands or fingers to handle, or feel objects, tools or controls and keyboarding; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk and hear.

The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.