Optical Engineer

REPORTS TO: DIRECTOR, ADVANCED HAMR HEAD DESIGNS

Under the direction of the Director of Advanced HAMR Head Designs, the Optical Engineer is responsible for the design, innovation, characterization, and improvement of advanced optical delivery systems for HAMR heads. This role focuses on developing and maturing next-generation optical architectures that improve optical coupling efficiency, field confinement, thermal robustness, and manufacturability of HAMR devices.

The engineer will lead and support innovative optical concept development, perform advanced optical modeling and simulation, drive experimental validation, and collaborate closely with process, test, metrology, and product engineering teams to translate new optical ideas into scalable product solutions. The ideal candidate is a strong technical innovator who can combine theory, simulation, experimentation, and practical engineering judgment to advance HAMR technology.

This position is located in Milpitas, CA.

• Develop and evaluate innovative optical design concepts for HAMR light delivery systems, including wave guides, tapers, couplers, mode converters, and surface plasmon excitation
• Perform advanced optical simulations using tools such as Lumerical, Tidy3D, and COMSOL to model field propagation, coupling efficiency, loss mechanisms, mode behavior, and design tradeoffs
• Apply inverse design, computational photonics, and optimization methods to explore new design spaces and develop optical structures that improve coupling efficiency, reduce loss, and enhance field confinement
• Investigate and optimize new optical architectures to improve energy delivery to the NFT while reducing optical loss, reducing footprint, and improving robustness to manufacturing variation
• Use simulation and experimental data to identify opportunities for new material or geometry combinations, and performance improvements in current and future HAMR platforms
• Maintain current optical instrumentation and develop new metrologies and characterization methods for HAMR heads and related components
• Partner with the process engineering group to define, execute, and track experiments that mature emerging optical concepts toward product integration
• Coordinate with the testing group to characterize the laser diode, light path, waveguide behavior, and NFT performance, and translate findings into actionable design changes.
• Conduct failure analysis of the light delivery system and perform FMEA
• Analyze testing and failure analysis data to guide the design direction of HAMR heads and support technology development roadmaps
• Collaborate with various teams in the US, Japan, and China regarding product development and technical alignment
• Provide updates on projects, including analysis of data and results; draw conclusions, present findings, and recommend appropriate action.
• Present technical findings, innovation proposals, and design recommendations to engineering and management stakeholders
• Support invention disclosures, technical reports, and other documentation related to novel optical design concepts
• Adhere to all safety policies and procedures as required
• Perform other duties of a similar nature or level

• Master’s degree in Optical Engineering or Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and/or equivalent relevant experience;
  PhD preferred
• Two years of experience working in optics, Plasmonics, silicon photonics, optical chip design, or similar field
• Knowledge of or hands’ on experience with laser package design and assembly
• Experience of hands-on optical testing, including transmittance, reflectance and far field diffraction.

• Knowledge and experience leveraging generative AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT to accelerate data analysis, coding, troubleshooting, research, and documentation, with the ability to review and validate outputs effectively
• Knowledge of semiconductor, HDD, or wafer manufacturing industry principles, practices, and techniques
• Knowledge and ability to track projects of various scope and complexity, including concept design, assembly, executive, and interpretation of results
• Knowledge and ability to use…