Optical Design Engineer

Location: Fairport

Optical Design Engineer

** Date:
** Jun 10, 2026

*
* Location:

** Fairport, NY, US, 14450

** Company:
** Corning

Requisition Number: 75595

** The company built on breakthroughs. ​ *
* ** Join us.​ *
* Corning is one of the world's leading innovators in glass, ceramic, and materials science. From the depths of the ocean to the farthest reaches of space, our technologies push the boundaries of what's possible.  ​ 

How do we do this? With our people. They break through limitations and expectations - not once in a career, but every day. They help move our company, and the world, forward. ​ 

​At Corning, there are endless possibilities for making an impact. You can help connect the unconnected, drive the future of automobiles, transform at-home entertainment, and ensure the delivery of lifesaving medicines. And so much more.​  

Come break through with us. 

Corning's businesses are ever-evolving to best serve our customers, industries, and consumers. Today, we accelerate and transform life sciences, mobile consumer electronics, optical communications, display, automotive, and solar markets. We are changing the world with:

+ Trusted products that accelerate drug discovery, development, and delivery to save lives

+ Damage-resistant cover glass to enhance the devices that keep us connected

+ Optical fiber, wireless technologies, and connectivity solutions to carry information and ideas at the speed of light

+ Precision glass for advanced displays to deliver richer experiences

+ Auto glass and ceramics to drive cleaner, safer, and smarter transportation

+ Solar polysilicon, wafers, and innovative photovoltaic modules, enabling low-cost solar energy solutions

** Role Purpose*
* Corning Advanced Optics is seeking an experienced optical design engineer to join our team.  This engineer will contribute to the design, analysis, tolerancing, and build of complex optical systems, working in multidisciplinary teams of engineers from concept development through hardware delivery.

** Key Responsibilities*
* + Participate in early-stage discussions with customers and distill & translate customer requirements into concrete system specifications.

+ Develop lens design forms for complex optical systems that meet these system specifications.

+ Develop manufacturing tolerances and build strategies for these lens systems using custom sensitivity and tolerancing software.

+ Collaborate with system metrology and controls engineers to develop appropriate measurement and optimization test benches.

+ Provide optical design support to both prototype development and long-term manufacturing.

+ Analyze the influential metrics to understand operational performance of an optical system.

+ Plan and implement optical design processes to transfer the system to production.

In summary, this engineer will work within a multi-disciplinary project team to analyze, engineer, and build lens systems from concept to completion.

** Experiences/Education - Required*
* + BS, MS, or PhD in Optics, Optical Engineering, or a closely related field.

+ 5+ years of industry experience in optical design engineering, working on the full life cycle of complex optical systems, from design concept to hardware delivery.

+ Proficiency using commercial optical design software for the design, optimization, and analysis of imaging optical systems; experience with CODE V is preferred

+

Experience with distilling a complex set of customer optical system requirements into cohesive optical design specifications.

+ Keen understanding of optical manufacturing strategies, sensitivity analysis, tolerancing, and fabrication methods.

+ Familiarity with lens system performance metrics, including first-order properties, wavefront error,  resolution, distortion, polarization-sensitive performance (transmission, retardance, and diattenuation), etc..

+ Ability to communicate optical design concepts, tradeoffs, and technical details with a multi-disciplinary team and with the customer.

** Experiences/Education - Desired*
* + Experience supporting optical projects through concept design, engineering development, and hardware delivery.

+ Knowledge of optical design principles for imaging and/or illumination systems.

+…