{"id":3018857,"url":"https://alion.io/job/clera-senior-optical-engineer-rd","title":"Senior Optical Engineer, R&D","company":{"id":2706,"name":"Clera","domain":"getclera.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/clera","size_band":"11-50","is_staffing_agency":true,"employer_type":"agency","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":80,"open_postings":30,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":6,"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"}},"role":"Semiconductors","role_family":"Semiconductors","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":200000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":200000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-21T14:05:11Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-21","last_verified_at":"2026-10-22T19:55:28Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"About the Role\nJoin the R&D team at a defense technology startup developing autonomous directed-energy systems. You will lead optical system design and investigations, applying deep optical expertise to turn designs into robust hardware.\nWhat You'll Do\nLead optical design and analysis for core system components.\n\nDrive optical investigations, trade studies, and system-level design decisions.\n\nSpecify and evaluate optical components and subsystem architectures.\n\nPartner with mechanical engineers on packaging, housing, and system integration.\n\nConduct tolerance analysis, performance validation, and design iteration.\n\nGuide alignment, characterization, and testing of integrated optical systems.\n\nWork with vendors and fabricators on feasibility, tolerancing, and manufacturability.\n\nEstablish best practices for optical development, validation, and technical documentation.\n\nWhat We're Looking For\nTypically 5 to 10 or more years of senior-level experience in optical engineering, optical design, or related physics-based systems work.\n\nDemonstrated experience designing and analyzing optical systems that were built and operated as hardware, including alignment, characterization, and hands-on debugging.\n\nStrong command of optical theory and experience leading investigations and trade studies that inform system-level decisions.\n\nExperience specifying and evaluating optical components, performing tolerance analysis and validation, and working with vendors or fabricators.\n\nWorking familiarity with mechanical packaging and integration, and experience collaborating across engineering disciplines.\n\nExperience with high-power laser optics, ruggedized beam delivery, beam directors, collimators, fast steering mirrors, adaptive optics, or laser communication terminals is relevant.\n\nExperience with Zemax/OpticStudio or Code V, and approximately 1 micron fiber laser systems, is valuable.\n\nBS or MS in Optical Engineering, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.\n\nCompensation & Benefits\nBase salary: $150,000 to $200,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.\nLocation\nOn-site in San Francisco, California, United States.","description_format":"text","description_chars":2150,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-21T17:15:53Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":38,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.379,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":6,"reasons":["conf:1","agency","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":200000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/clera-senior-optical-engineer-rd","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/clera-senior-optical-engineer-rd.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-22T20:21:30Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":4352,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-23T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":2706},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=2706"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fclera-senior-optical-engineer-rd"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fclera-senior-optical-engineer-rd"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fclera-senior-optical-engineer-rd"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/clera-senior-optical-engineer-rd\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fclera-senior-optical-engineer-rd"}]}