Optical Engineer I

Location: Folio Photonics; Longmont, CO — on-site

Job Type: Full time

Reports to: Head of Optical Engineering

Salary: $75,000–$105,000/year

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Folio Photonics is a dynamic startup company focused on developing a multi-terabyte multilayer fluorescent optical disc with a decades-long shelf life, a small environmental footprint, and low total cost of ownership. This technology represents a significant and much-needed breakthrough for the archival and nearline data storage industry. Our engineering team possesses the diverse range of skills needed to bring the optical media, the optical pickup, and the optical disc drive to market — chemistry, physics, materials and polymer science, and optical, mechanical, computer, electronic, firmware, and software engineering. Our team is composed of talented individuals who thrive in a high-tech, interdisciplinary environment.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Optical Engineer I supports development of the optical pickup unit (OPU) that reads and writes data to our multilayer optical discs. You will work on-site in Longmont, CO, on the spinstand and the 450 nm optical path, alongside the drive and servo development effort. You will be given well-defined analysis, modeling, and laboratory tasks, and your work will be reviewed as you build depth. Within your first year, we expect you to be independently owning component-level analyses and measurements. You will have impactful scope and influence to a real product development program.

JOB DUTIES

• Build, run, and extend optical models in Zemax and MATLAB or Python to support OPU and drive development
• Interpret laboratory and spinstand measurement data; produce reports that inform engineering decisions
• Set up, align, and operate optical test benches; take systematic, reproducible, well-logged data
• Support component characterization and incoming inspection of lenses, coatings, sources, and detectors
• Run optical tolerance and sensitivity analyses
• Support optical, opto-mechanical, and system-level integration and test activities
• Document work in written test reports and analysis memos, present results to the engineering teams and uplevel to leadership

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

• BS, MS, Ph.D., in Optical Engineering, Optical Sciences, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field; 0–2 years of professional experience
• Solid command of geometrical and physical optics: aberrations, diffraction, NA and depth of focus, interference, and polarization. You can work these problems, not just define them.
• Experience with optical design software (Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, or equivalent): you can build a sequential model from a prescription and run standard analyses
• Proficiency in MATLAB or Python for modeling and data reduction
• Demonstrated hands-on optical laboratory experience at the bench: aligning multi-element optical paths, working with lasers, lenses, mirrors, coatings, detectors, and opto-mechanical mounts
• Familiarity with optical instrumentation — some subset of interferometers, wavefront sensors, beam profilers, spectrometers, autocollimators, alignment telescopes, microscopes, and power meters
• AI-augmented engineering practice. Fluent use of AI assistants and coding copilots as everyday working tools — code generation and debugging, data reduction, literature and patent search, and technical drafting. Equally important: you can critically evaluate AI output, recognize when it is confidently wrong, and validate it against analytic limits, known results, or measurement before it leaves your hands.
• Sound judgment about confidentiality is required — Folio’s optical designs, supplier specifications, and media formulations are proprietary
• Clear technical writing, and the professional honesty to report a result you do not like

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Thin-film interference and transfer-matrix modeling of multilayer stacks
• Statistical methods applied to engineering problems: Monte Carlo, design of experiments, measurement uncertainty
• Experience with tolerance analysis in Zemax or Code V
• Experience with wave-based optics modeling techniques - RCWA, FDTD
• Laser diode characterization and drive; photodetector and transimpedance signal chains
• Non-sequential ray tracing, stray light, or scattering analysis with tools such as LightTools
• Scripting an optical design tool (ZOS-API, macro languages) to automate analysis
• Confocal microscopy, point-source microscope alignment, or precision alignment metrology
• Reading and producing ISO 10110 optical drawings
• Version control (git) and disciplined analysis-code practice
• Any exposure to optical disc drives, optical pickups, or optical data storage

WHAT WE WILL TEACH YOU

Optical data storage. The OPU architecture, focus and tracking error signals, multilayer addressing, and how optics couples to servo control and the data channel. We do not expect candidates to arrive with this — we expect them to arrive able to learn it fast.

CONTACT Email a cover letter and resume to john.cesaratto@foliophotonics.com.

Folio Photonics is an equal opportunity employer.