Optical Design​/Coating Engineer

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Blue National Security (BNS), where our focus is the design, development, and delivery of launch and spacecraft systems for national security missions.

Through Blue Ring, our all‑in‑one, high‑powered hybrid solar‑electric and chemical‑propelled spacecraft, we provide unmatched mission maneuverability, versatility, and capacity at dramatically lower‑profile costs.

Blue Origin is seeking a detail‑oriented Optical Design/ Coating Engineer to design, develop, and optimize advanced optics/ coatings supporting our next‑generation space vehicles, sensors, and optical payloads. In this role, you will bridge theoretical optical design with hands‑on optics and coating manufacturing, delivering high‑performance coatings—including anti‑reflective (AR), high‑reflective (HR), and custom spectral filters—for mission‑critical components such as star trackers, LIDAR systems, laser communication terminals, spacecraft windows, and onboard imaging systems.

You’ll collaborate closely with R&D, systems engineering, manufacturing technicians, and quality assurance teams to create robust, flight‑qualified optical components capable of surviving the extreme thermal, vacuum, and radiation environments of space. This is a unique opportunity to apply your optical coating expertise to hardware that will fly on orbital and suborbital missions, contributing directly to humanity’s expansion beyond Earth.

• Optical Design & Modeling:
  Design and modeling optics with multi‑layer thin‑film coating stacks using industry‑standard simulation software (e.g., Essential Macleod, Film Star) to meet stringent spectral, thermal, and space‑environment durability requirements for flight hardware.
• Process Development:
  Develop, scale, and optimize physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes—including electron‑beam (e‑beam) evaporation, ion‑assisted deposition (IAD), and ion beam sputtering (IBS)—in high‑vacuum chambers to produce coatings capable of withstanding launch vibration, thermal cycling, and orbital radiation exposure.
• Space‑Environment
  
  Qualification:
  
  Support environmental testing protocols (thermal vacuum, vibration, out gassing per ASTM E595) to ensure coatings meet aerospace‑grade reliability and NASA/DoD material out gassing standards.
• Metrology & Characterization:
  Test and analyze spectral performance using spectrophotometers, ellipsometers, and interferometers to verify transmission, reflection, absorption, and laser damage threshold (LDT) specifications for high‑power laser communication systems.
• Troubleshooting & Yield Improvement:
  Diagnose root causes of coating defects, spectral shift, or adhesion failures using data‑driven methods (Statistical Process Control, DOE, Six Sigma) to support high‑reliability, low‑defect production for flight‑critical hardware.
• Production Transfer & Documentation:
  Transition successful prototypes into full‑scale manufacturing, authoring clear standard operating procedures (SOPs), work instructions, and training documentation compliant with aerospace quality systems (AS9100).
• Cross‑Functional
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Partner with systems engineers, mechanical designers, and mission assurance teams to integrate optical components into avionics, sensor suites, and payload systems supporting New Glenn, New Shepard, and Blue Moon programs.
• Supplier & Vendor Coordination:
  Support supplier qualification and incoming inspection criteria for…