Principal Optomechanical Design Engineer

About Neurophos

The demand for new datacenters and AI compute is rapidly outpacing the planet's energy capacity. Digital solutions are hitting a power wall as we approach the physical limits of traditional silicon. Conquering this bottleneck isn’t about bigger chips or more of them; it means rethinking the fundamental architecture. The industry's current path isn’t going to meet the need, so we took a different approach.

Instead of traditional electronic circuits, we use silicon photonics and an active, programmable metasurface to perform matrix multiplications at the speed of light. Our optical cells are 10,000x smaller than traditional photonic components, enabling unprecedented density. By using photonics instead of electricity, our chips become more efficient as they scale. This architecture will deliver up to 100 times the energy efficiency of existing solutions while significantly improving performance for large-scale AI inference.

The optomechanical team is responsible for the physical design and integration of the OPU’s free-space optical path, fiber-coupled subsystems, and photonic packaging. This is the precision mechanical backbone that enables our optical processing engine to operate within the exacting tolerances required for analog compute. The Principal Optomechanical Design Engineer will own the optomechanical architecture from concept through production and will be the recognized expert in precision optical-mechanical design across the company, working closely with optical, photonics, electrical, and systems engineering teams.

San Francisco Bay Area or Austin, TX. Full-time onsite position.

• Define and own the end-to-end opto-mechanical architecture for the OPU, spanning free-space optical paths, fiber-coupled subsystems, and photonic chip packaging.
• Lead tolerance analysis (RSS/Monte Carlo) and develop opto-mechanical error budgets for wavefront quality, pointing stability, throughput, and fiber coupling efficiency.
• Design precision mechanical assemblies for beam-shaping, collimation, polarization management, and alignment of free-space optical elements.
• Develop packaging and integration strategies for single-mode and polarization-maintaining fiber assemblies, including active and passive alignment approaches.
• Drive design for manufacturability (DFM) and design for assembly (DFA) practices to ensure repeatable, cost-effective production of precision optical subsystems.
• Own environmental qualification of opto-mechanical assemblies, including vibration, thermal cycling, shock, and long-term stability testing.
• Define material selection strategies for opto-mechanical stability — including Invar, titanium, and low-CTE materials — and thermal management approaches.
• Develop and maintain CAD models, GD&T drawings, and engineering documentation; partner with vendors and contract manufacturers to qualify precision components.
• Act as the company-wide opto-mechanical authority, ensuring mechanical design requirements are treated as P0 across all photonic and optical subsystems.
• Represent opto-mechanical design in system reviews, own relevant sections of system requirements documents, and communicate status and risk to technical and executive audiences.

• PhD or M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related discipline (PhD preferred).
• 10+ years of hands-on opto-mechanical design experience, with a demonstrated track record of taking precision optical systems from concept through volume production.
• Deep expertise in free-space optical system design, including beam shaping, collimation, spatial light modulator integration, and interferometric layouts.
• Strong background in photonic packaging and fiber optic integration — PM fiber, FAU, and active alignment.
• Proficiency in 3D CAD (Solid Works or CREO) and GD&T experience with optical analysis tools (Zemax/Optic Studio or equivalent) to support tolerance studies.
• Solid understanding of material selection for opto-mechanical stability and thermal management; experience with precision flexure mechanisms and kinematic mounts is a strong plus.
• Proven ability to influence…