Laser Sensing Systems Principal Engineer

Responsibilities

• Act as the technical authority for laser sensing products, guiding design decisions, quality, and risk management.
• Lead the end-to-end design, integration, testing, and troubleshooting of advanced electro‑optical systems.
• Provide hands-on engineering support, including hardware assembly, system integration, and lab troubleshooting.
• Convert customer requirements into system‑level solutions spanning optical, electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software domains.
• Drive resolution of complex technical challenges and lead major design and technical reviews.
• Serve as a technical lead with customers, contributing to proposals, business development, and industry engagements.
• Mentor engineers, promote engineering best practices, and strengthen the organization’s technical capabilities.
• Identify and evaluate new technologies, steering product development from concept through prototyping.
• Align product strategy with program execution to support customer success and business growth.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, Engineering Physics, or a closely related technical field.
• 10–15+ years of progressive, hands-on experience in defense or industrial electro‑optical systems development; proven versatility in small to mid‑size companies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to author technical proposals, lead customer reviews, and present to mixed audiences.
• Demonstrated full lifecycle ownership from concept and requirements through design, integration, qualification, production support, and field issues.
• Direct experience as technical lead or primary point of contact with defense primes, mid‑tier integrators, and/or government laboratories.
• Extensive experience developing and integrating laser sensing systems such as rangefinders, LIDAR, optical proximity sensors, and related EO technologies.
• Strong knowledge of laser sources, optical receivers, detectors, signal processing, and laser safety standards.
• Familiarity with engineering tools used in EO/IR systems development (simulation, signal analysis, design reviews, etc.).
• Working expertise in supporting electronics including analog circuitry, high‑speed timing, FPGA‑based processing, and system‑level troubleshooting.
• Proven ability to define, manage, and negotiate complex system requirements across optical, electrical, mechanical, and environmental domains.
• Solid understanding of IR imaging systems, sensor architectures, image processing, and defense imaging applications.
• Experience with sensor interfaces and protocols such as SPI, I2C, UART, Ethernet, CameraLink, and MIL‑STD‑1553.
• Strong foundation in optical design principles and the ability to evaluate performance and trade‑offs.
• Knowledge of environmental qualification standards and regulatory requirements for defense and aerospace, including MIL‑STD‑810, MIL‑STD‑461, and ITAR/EAR.
• Current or ability to obtain US DoD Secret Security Clearance; U.S. Citizenship required.

Technologies

• LIDAR
• Rangefinders
• Optical proximity sensors
• FPGA‑based processing
• CameraLink
• MIL‑STD‑1553
• SPI
• I2C
• UART
• Ethernet

Benefits

• 401(k) with 6% match
• Dental insurance
• Disability insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Pet insurance
• Professional development assistance
• Referral program
• Tuition reimbursement
• Vision insurance

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Master’s degree or PhD in a related discipline
• Active US DoD security clearance
• Direct experience with handheld target locator modules, laser target designators, fire control systems, guided munition seekers, or proximity fuzing
• Experience leading or contributing to SBIR/STTR or other government R&D proposals
• Experience with time-of-flight or signal processing architectures
• Direct experience with laser safety classification, eye-safety analysis, and certification
• Experience working in an ITAR environment

Markets

• Nearest major market: Ventura
• Nearest secondary market: Oxnard

Work location

On-site in Camarillo, California