Optical Engineering Test Specialist

About You:

You are an Engineer / Technologist with a passion for designing, building and operating optical setups in the lab. You have a strong understanding of optical fundamentals, a talent for alignment, and a fine touch for sensitive adjustments and small parts.  Your hacker mentality helps you find ways to make things work when it it counts. You can push through problems and figure things out with minimal supervision, and you can work with a team to achieve a common goal. You are comfortable writing code to grab data from instruments and automate your set ups.

At Thalmic you’ll be asked to test concepts, validate software simulations, develop alignment methods, and characterize optical components and sub-systems. We offer a fast-paced, interdisciplinary environment that will grow your skills. Constant learning will be a regular part of your day. You will have the opportunity to play a critical role in the development of next generation products.

Feel like you can’t tick all the boxes? If you have some of the skills and experience that we’re looking for and are willing to use your talent to learn the rest, we encourage you to apply!

Main objectives:

• Within 15 days,
  • Study the basic function of our products in development and spend a day in the cleanroom to learning everything you can about them
  • Learn how, and be qualified, to conduct at least one First Article Analysis (FAI) procedure
  • Fully understand all of the optical components of our products by reviewing available documentation
  • Shadow one of our lab technologists for several days and support their activities
  • Complete all Health and Safety / Manufacturing Training
• Within 40 days,
  • Learn how to operate the specialized equipment in the lab
  • Learn how to program the ThorLab motion control devices using Python
  • Take on an independent lab task with a deliverable, and deliver!
  • Review our products in development using Zemax or SolidWorks
  • Develop awareness of the various metrology tools available at Thalmic  
  • Develop awareness of the optical facilities and capabilities across our office locations 
• Within 60 days,
  • Develop proficiency with lab automation using Python
  • Take on one or two independent lab assignments with deliverables
  • Present results / data from the experimental builds to the team in a clear, concise way
  • Continue to develop lab automation skills
  • Develop an understanding of the assembly fixtures of our products under development and the strategies behind them
  • Identify and demonstrate prototypes for improvements to one of those fixtures

Bonus points for:

• Experience with optical metrology tools (measurement microscopes, interferometers, alignment telescopes, etc.)
• Photonics Technician/Technologist designation or similar
• Programming experience in Matlab, Python, or similar
• Familiarity with optical ray tracing programs such as Zemax, Code V, LightTools, or similar packages
• Familiarity with SolidWorks or similar CAD package
• Clean room experience

Why Thalmic:

Day-to-day, we challenge each other to constantly raise the bar, encourage unconventional thinking to achieve innovative breakthroughs, and are passionately committed to surpassing our goals. We advocate a healthy lifestyle and promote continuous learning in a flexible work environment. Most of all, we set visionary goals, and we’re passionate about building the best, most impactful products that people will love.

About us:

Thalmic is a hardware + software company building exciting technologies that will shape the future of human-computer interaction, backed by a world-class team of investors including Intel Capital, Spark Capital and The Amazon Alexa Fund.  

We announced our first product, the Myo gesture control armband, in 2013, and pre-sold over 10,000 units in the first 48 hours. Myo is now shipping worldwide and has gone on to win numerous awards, including Digital Trends’ “Best of CES 2014” Award for Cool Tech.