Scientist, Optical Engineering (Technical Manager)

Job Title: Scientist, Optical Engineering (Technical Manager)

Job Code: 47598

Job Location: Rochester, New York

Job Schedule: 9/80 (Every Other Friday Off!)

Job Description:

We are seeking an Optical Engineering Technical Manager to lead and develop optical engineers who support optical components, subassemblies, systems, and payloads for the Space Systems sector. You will help the team translate mission requirements into practical engineering solutions and guide work from architecture studies through design, manufacture, integration, test and sell-off of space-based EO/IR systems.

This role combines people leadership with direct technical contributions to assigned programs and proposals. Working with the Discipline Leader and program teams, you will align staffing, resources, and individual contributions to the priorities of the Space Systems sector with cost and schedule commitments in mind. You will bring technical depth in the optical field and draw on specialists across the organization to address broader business portfolio needs, capabilities, and operational priorities.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in space-based optical systems, demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary engineering teams, and the ability to translate complex technical issues into actionable decisions for customers, program teams, and senior leadership.

Essential Functions:

• Lead, coach, and develop optical engineers and technical leads with an average of twenty (20) direct reports. Set clear expectations, hold regular individual and department meetings, recognize contributions, and support employee engagement and retention.
• Lead hiring and onboarding, assess performance, and support career development and knowledge transfer. Identify training needs and follow established management and HR processes.
• Plan staffing, workload, equipment availability, and assignment transitions within the discipline and program leadership. Match skills to current and anticipated needs and coordinate resources.
• Provide technical direction and direct engineering support for assigned programs and new business pursuits. Guide and contribute to mission-specific requirements, architectures, designs, and trade studies for active and passive optical systems across the ultraviolet to long-wave infrared spectrum, as applicable.
• Develop and guide optical analyses and error budgets to predict performance in test and operational environments, including structural-thermal-optical performance analysis as applicable. Evaluate image quality, wavefront error, modulation transfer function, ensquared energy, radiometric performance, and stray light. Ensure component and subassembly specifications and tolerances support system performance, verification, and mission requirements.
• Partner with systems, mechanical, electrical, thermal, manufacturing, mission assurance, and program test teams to mature optical designs and support fabrication, environmental testing, and verification.
• Improve optical engineering methods and capabilities through new technologies, advanced metrology, automation, and reusable analyses that improve mission capability, engineering efficiency, and affordability. Support effective transfer of development work into production.
• Manage and assess the optical team's contribution to program cost, schedule, and technical baselines. Track progress, resolve resource conflicts, and communicate risks and recovery plans to program and discipline leadership.
• Guide optical alignment, metrology, and test layouts, and mentor engineers in practical techniques for fabrication, integration, and environmental testing, including vibration and thermal-vacuum testing. Compare predicted performance with test results to support verification and qualification. Lead or support troubleshooting, root-cause investigations, corrective actions, and engineering change reviews.
• Support proposals, technical solution development, vendor assessments, and basis-of-estimate preparation. Review optical scope and performance, manufacturability, testability, cost, and schedule tradeoffs, and approve technical baselines within delegated authority. Engage customers and leadership on optical technical decisions as needed.
• Improve optical engineering methods and department practices. Promote reusable analyses, practical capability development, and effective transfer of engineering work into production; contribute to discipline roadmaps and tool needs.
• Establish and execute one- to two-year operational plans for the optical engineering organization, including capability development, resource allocation, engineering infrastructure, and budget recommendations.
• Manage assigned department budgets, expenditures, and routine approvals within delegated authority. Ensure accurate timekeeping and required training completion. Enforce workplace safety, security, export-control, and engineering compliance.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Optics, Physics, or a related engineering discipline with a minimum of 12 years of prior related experience; a graduate degree with a minimum of 10 years of prior related experience; or, in lieu of a degree, a minimum of 16 years of prior related experience.
• Five or more years of leadership experience managing engineering teams, technical organizations, or significant multidisciplinary engineering work scopes. Technical team leadership experience qualifies.
• Ability to obtain a federal security clearance.

Preferred Additional Skills:

• Holds an active Secret or Top Secret clearance.
• An advanced degree in Optical Engineering, Optics, Physics, or a related discipline.
• Experience developing, integrating, and delivering optical components, subassemblies, systems, or payloads for space applications, including environmental qualification and acceptance testing.
• Experience with structural-thermal-optical performance analysis (STOP), athermalization, or optomechanical design.
• Non-sequential analysis experience using FRED or equivalent software, or specialized experience in stray light, radiometry, polarization, multispectral or hyperspectral systems.
• Experience with precision optical metrology and advanced alignment techniques, including wavefront analysis using Zernike polynomials for refractive or reflective optical assemblies.
• Familiarity with detector characterization, calibration, image quality assessment, and end-to-end electro-optical performance modeling.
• Knowledge of how radiation, vacuum, contamination, and thermal cycling affect optical materials, coatings, adhesives, and assemblies.
• Experience with optical fabrication, supplier management, including fabrication process capabilities and optical coatings.
• MATLAB, Python, or similar tools for analysis, test automation, or data reduction.
• Experience with optical design software such as CodeV, Zemax OpticStudio
• Experience supporting competitive proposals, technology maturation, customer technical exchanges, and strategic planning.
• Experience leading teams through on-orbit commissioning or anomaly resolution.
• Ability to architect an end-to-end space system with a full understanding of the product lifecycle
• Demonstrated technical leadership in optical design and analysis for space, aerospace, or defense applications
• Strong command of geometrical optics, diffraction, imaging, radiometry, and component tolerancing.
• Practical experience with optical alignment, integration, testing, and requirements verification, including interferometry, optical test layouts, and optical measurement data analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to plan technical work, balance multiple program priorities, communicate analysis results, recommendations, and execution status to engineers, program teams, customers, and leadership.

In compliance with pay transparency requirements, the salary range for this role in New York is $140,500 - $261,500. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. L3Harris also offers a variety of benefits, including health and disability insurance, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, EAP, education assistance, parental leave, paid time off, and company-paid holidays. The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.