Principal Optics Engineer

Principal Optics Engineer Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) is a U.S. company that has been serving domestic and international defense Air, Land and Sea domains for 60+ years. With over 1,000 employees, TDSI and its four subsidiaries support U.S. Joint Services, special operations forces and multi-national partners with a variety of communication, visualization, signal intelligence/electronic warfare, and sensor/sonar capabilities. Lives depend on what we do! We are excited to announce that we have an opening in our Billerica, MA office for a Principal Optics Engineer.

Develop product/development requirements – what is possible, what is manufacturable, how to bend physics to our will, and how much of that can we do now? Propose R&D efforts, how to productize the resulting technologies, and the intervening set of tasks Provide technical support and expertise on proposals, bid efforts and customer interactions Interact with and impress customers, and vendor counterparts at very technical level Manage vendors to a successful conclusion, including providing milestones for evaluating next direction, and cutting bait if such evaluation finds no promising direction Design and develop optical components of head mounted displays (waveguide, projector, intervening optics)- potentially identifying COTS while overseeing adaption effort Test performance of optical components (especially waveguides) in the lab Analyze performance of optical components: provide and defend first order (oversimplified) calculations with stated assumptions to recommend whether a technical approach is worth further investigation (for instance in the lab) Debug problems with our current displays Operate without close supervision, which probably means turning an open-ended problem into a course of action and then following it to an actionable conclusion Perform as an integral member of the HMD team interacting on a regular basis with inter/intra-company disciplines including engineering, contracts, programs management, business development, and manufacturing Some domestic and international travel to vendors, customers, and conferences

The annualized pay range for this role is $146,151-$186,748 USD along with a target incentive compensation plan (ICP) of 5%. TDSI considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate's work experience, location, education/training, and key skills. For specific questions about this job posting, candidates may contact talent acquisition at careers@thalesdsi.com. Thales Defense & Security, Inc. is committed to non-discrimination as applicable under federal, state and local laws. We are an E-Verify Employer. If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., please call Human Resources at 202-961-1016.