About this role

Key Responsibilities

- Own new product introduction (NPI) for optical components and assemblies — from design-for-manufacturing feedback during development through pilot builds, qualification, and volume ramp

- Develop, document, and validate manufacturing and assembly processes for precision optics, including alignment, bonding, coating, cleaning, and handling procedures

- Define and implement optical metrology and quality controls — surface figure, transmittance/reflectance, alignment tolerances, coating durability — and the acceptance criteria suppliers are held to

- Qualify and develop optics manufacturing and assembly suppliers domestically and internationally: run process audits, first article inspections, PPAP/qualification builds, and drive corrective actions to closure

- Partner with design engineering to translate optical performance requirements into manufacturable specifications, realistic tolerances, and scalable processes

- Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for optical yield, quality, and reliability issues across pilot and production builds

- Drive cost-reduction and yield-improvement initiatives as production scales, balancing optical performance against manufacturability and cost

- Build the documentation backbone for scale: work instructions, control plans, PFMEAs, and process flow diagrams for optical manufacturing and assembly

- Travel to supplier and manufacturing sites (domestic and international) to support builds, qualifications, and issue resolution

Required Qualifications

- 4+ years of manufacturing, process, or NPI engineering experience with precision optical components or optomechanical assemblies — lenses, mirrors, coatings, concentrators, or comparable high-precision hardware

- Working knowledge of optical fabrication and assembly processes (molding, polishing, coating, replication, precision alignment and bonding) and where they break at volume

- Hands-on experience with optical metrology tools and methods (interferometry, spectrophotometry, CMM, imaging-based alignment verification, or equivalent)

- Experience taking hardware through NPI phase gates — prototype, EVT/DVT/PVT or equivalent — into volume production

- Demonstrated supplier-facing experience: qualification builds, audits, first article inspection, and driving corrective action with external partners

- Fluency with core quality tools: GD&T, SPC, PFMEA, control plans, and structured root cause methods (8D, 5-Why, or similar)

- Bachelor's degree in Optical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, or Industrial Engineering, Physics, or a related field — or equivalent demonstrated engineering depth

- Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience manufacturing optics for solar, automotive, lighting, display, or other cost-driven high-volume applications (vs. low-volume scientific/aerospace optics)

- Familiarity with Fresnel lenses, lamination process, reflector/concentrator optics, or non-imaging optics

- Knowledge of optical coating processes and environmental durability testing (abrasion, humidity, thermal cycling, UV exposure)

- Experience standing up new production lines or transferring processes between suppliers or geographies, including in Asia

- Working knowledge of injection molding, glass forming, or roll-to-roll replication for optical surfaces

- Experience in an early-stage or fast-ramp hardware environment where you built the process rather than inherited it