Photonics Engineer

This is a photonics (opto-electronics) engineering position at the Thorlabs Ultrafast Optoelectronics (UFO) division in Ann Arbor. Thorlabs is the world’s largest privately held photonics catalog company, servicing commercial, academic, and government customers. Our product families include instruments and components for generating and measuring optical and electrical signals from DC to 100 GHz, as well as several families of picosecond and nanosecond pulsed lasers. This is an opportunity to work in a multi-discipline engineering team (hardware, software, optics, mechanics) to bring new products to market.

The primary responsibility is to assist senior engineering staff in new product development, support existing products, as well as develop and implement assembly and test procedures for products that contain precision optical, mechanical, and electronic components. This person will also offer technical support and guidance to the manufacturing operation.

Essential Job Functions include the following, but are not limited to:

• Contribute to the design, prototyping and testing of new products
• Provide recommendations for component choices
• Evaluate and test candidate product concepts, including qualification
• Verify & test product designs with theoretical models and simulations
• Maintain documentation for the product development process
• Create preliminary assembly and test work instructions
• Coordinate all aspects of optical, electrical, and mechanical requirements
• Interface with manufacturing engineer for transfer to production
• Facilitate NPI functions within the corporate ERP system

Additional Job Functions

• Meeting company standards pertaining to quantity and quality of work performed on an ongoing basis, performing all work-related tasks in a manner that is compliant with all Company policies and procedures.
• Adhering to Company policies, procedures, and directives regarding standards of workplace behavior in completing job duties and assignments.

Physical Activities:

• Work may be active, could stand or sit for long durations and/or perform repetitious work at times. Exerts up to 50 lbs. of force occasionally. While performing the duties, the employee is regularly required to operate precision machines. The work areas may be noisy at times.

In addition to the essential functions and duties listed above, all positions are also responsible for:

• Meeting company standards pertaining to quantity and quality of work performed on an ongoing basis, performing all work-related tasks in a manner that is in compliance with all Company policies and procedures.
• Adhering to Company policies, procedures, and directives regarding standards of workplace behavior in completing job duties and assignments.

*The Company retains the right to change or assign other duties to this position.