Optical Engineer - Directed Energy

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EOS – Who are we? EOS is a world leader in designing, developing and building advanced technology products and services for the global defence and space domains.

We develop and produce systems that can detect, identify, stabilise, control and communicate to inform strategic decision-making.

EOS operates on the global stage and is a well-established member of the international defence and space communities.

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Job Summary EOS is building our high energy laser weapon capability. The Directed Energy group develops and demonstrates laser systems in the tens to hundreds of kilowatts class for counter-uncrewed aircraft system (C-UAS) and short range air defence roles, spanning the laser source, beam director, tracking and fire control, power and thermal management, and platform integration.

As an Optical Engineer you will own the path from the laser output to the target: beam expansion, relay optics, fast steering, the beam director telescope, and the sensing that keeps the spot where it needs to be. High irradiance changes what is acceptable in an optical design, and this role is where those constraints are resolved.

You will move between optical design software, the optical bench, the integration floor and the range, and you will be accountable for as-built performance rather than a nominal design.

Every role in this team spends time in the field. Our systems are proven at the test range and on trial sites, and you will be there when that happens.

Primary Duties The job plays a pivotal role in the optical performance of EOS directed energy systems, from beam director design through to delivered irradiance on target.

You will provide expertise in high power optical design, tolerancing, alignment and characterisation, and in the interface between optical performance and the mechanical, control and laser subsystems that determine it.

Key Responsibilities

• Design beam director and beam path optical trains, including telescopes, relay optics, fast steering mirrors, dichroics and folded beam paths.
• Model optical performance including tolerance analysis, stray light, ghost paths and thermal effects under sustained high irradiance.
• Specify optics, substrates and coatings for high power operation, including damage threshold, absorption, wavefront and cleanliness requirements.
• Develop alignment strategies and procedures and translate them into build, integration and field maintenance instructions.
• Characterise as-built optical performance including wavefront error, boresight stability, transmission and encircled energy, and feed the results back into design.
• Support beam stabilisation and adaptive optics development in conjunction with the control systems and software teams.
• Work with mechanical design on opto-mechanical mounting, athermalisation, stiffness and adjustment strategy, and own the associated interface definitions.
• Produce optical design documentation, drawings, interface control documents and test reports within the EOS systems engineering framework.

Experience Essential:

• Degree in optical engineering, physics or a closely related discipline.
• Minimum 3 years designing and integrating optical systems in an industrial or applied research setting.
• Demonstrated proficiency with optical design software such as Zemax OpticStudio, Code V or FRED, including tolerance analysis.
• Practical experience with interferometry, wavefront sensing and the alignment of multi-element optical systems.
• Working knowledge of optical coatings, substrates and laser induced damage in high power applications.
• Ability to specify optics to external vendors and to critically assess supplier test data against requirement.
• Comfortable moving between bench work, integration on the shop floor and testing in the field.
• Willingness to travel to the test range and trial sites regularly, including periods of out-of-hours work around demonstration campaigns.

Highly Regarded

• Postgraduate qualification in optics or photonics.
• Experience with adaptive optics, deformable mirrors or atmospheric propagation modelling.
• Experience with gimbal mounted or gyro-stabilised electro-optic payloads.
• Stray light analysis experience using FRED, TracePro or equivalent.