Optics Engineer

Optics Engineer

Becoming is building Developmental Intelligence: AI for predicting how organisms change over time. Most experimental systems fail when metabolic demands become too high. We are building systems that don't — by combining engineered metabolic environments, sensing, control, and software into tightly integrated products that operate reliably over long time horizons. Hardware is core to our platform. It must work continuously, predictably, and under real biological constraints.

We are hiring an Optics Engineer to architect and own optical subsystems within Becoming's integrated hardware platform. This is a senior builder role. You will design stable, production-grade optical systems that integrate tightly with mechanical structures, electronics, firmware, and data systems — and you will be accountable for their real-world performance. This is not a research imaging role. You will think in terms of alignment stability, signal integrity, manufacturability, and long-duration runtime.

You will define specifications, make architecture decisions, and own outcomes.

End-to-end ownership of optical subsystems inside complex hardware platforms

Optical path architecture: illumination, detection, filtering, and signal optimization

Component selection with attention to stability, lifecycle, and manufacturability

Mechanical integration and alignment strategy under thermal and environmental constraints

Electrical integration of detectors and signal acquisition systems

Signal-to-noise optimization and drift mitigation

Calibration frameworks and long-term stability validation

Prototyping, stress testing, and failure analysis

Documentation and standards that enable scaling

You are someone who:

Operates with high agency — you identify problems, define solutions, and execute

Takes end-to-end ownership of what you build

Brings high energy to complex, ambiguous engineering challenges

Acts with high integrity — you are honest about tradeoffs, risks, and failure modes

Communicates directly and clearly, especially when something won't work

Is self-aware about your strengths and gaps, and proactively fills them

Thinks like a systems integrator, not a narrow specialist

Cares deeply about understanding systems at a first-principles level