Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer, Directed Energy

The role

Xcimer’s Directed Energy programs apply the high-energy pulsed laser technology behind our fusion work to national security problems. We are seeking a Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer to serve as the adaptive optics and wavefront control authority for a directed-energy laser demonstrator. You will own the adaptive optics requirements, the performance budgets that justify them, and the plan and resources that implement them.

All jobs

Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer, Directed Energy

Xcimer Energy, Denver, CO

Posted pay

$190K–$220K

a year

Compared with similar jobs

This base pay is below the median for principal hardware and robotics jobs in other US places.

Median: $222K a year
Other jobs in the group: 95

We compare the middle of each posted range. This is base pay as posted. The group does not include this job.

Location: Denver, CO
Work type: Onsite
Level: Principal
Experience: 8+ years
Posted: Sep 24, 2026
Last check: 1 h ago
Job type: Hardware and robotics

Apply on the Xcimer Energy site Make a résumé and a cover letter for this job Sign in to save

The Xcimer Energy site opens in a new tab.

Xcimer Energy

Open tech jobs: 21
With posted pay: 100%
Median posted base: $134K–$182K

About Xcimer Energy: funding, hiring and pay

Xcimer Energy

About Xcimer Energy: funding, hiring and pay

Interview questions

No one has reported an interview at Xcimer Energy yet. Did you interview there? Add the questions.

Check my fit

Compare your résumé with this job. See where you match, what is missing and which lines to change.

Make a résumé and a cover letter for this job

Paste your résumé, or use the résumé on your profile.
Get the résumé as a PDF and the letter as text. We use only the facts in your résumé.
Apply on the Xcimer Energy site.

Open the apply kit

The role

What you need

Requirements and Performance Modeling

Own adaptive optics and wavefront control requirements for the Directed Energy program, from the top-level irradiance and beam quality objectives down to component and interface specifications.
Build and maintain the end-to-end performance model: propagation through atmospheric turbulence and thermal blooming, wave-optics prediction of far-field irradiance, and a wavefront error budget resolved into fitting, temporal, measurement, calibration, and anisoplanatic terms.
Set the resulting requirements on deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, reconstructors, and the real-time control loop, including bandwidth, latency, and disturbance rejection budgets, and review vendor and partner designs against them.
Lead trade studies and architecture decisions: correction topology, actuator count and stroke, sensing approach and wavelength, sampling and control rates, and where the system is limited by physics rather than by hardware.
Ensure designs meet performance, reliability, and operability requirements, and identify technical risks with mitigation plans in coordination with program management.
Translate lessons learned and key developments from Directed Energy beam control into beam control goals and requirements for Xcimer’s fusion program, and advise the fusion adaptive optics effort on architecture and component selection where the two programs share technology.

Requirements

Education: Advanced degree in optics, physics, electrical engineering, or a closely related field.
Experience: 8+ years of optical science/engineering experience, including 5+ years in adaptive optics, wavefront sensing and control, directed energy, or closely related high-speed optical/laser control systems.
A track record of delivering adaptive optics or beam control systems in industry, national labs, or observatories.
Demonstrated ownership of adaptive optics requirements and performance budgets on a real program, including the wavefront error budget and its allocation across subsystems.
Laser beam propagation through atmospheric turbulence, including turbulence characterization and its consequences for correction (r₀, Cₙ² profiles, Greenwood and Tyler frequencies, isoplanatic angle), and thermal blooming.
Demonstrated use of a wave-optics propagation code for system performance prediction, including codes you wrote yourself, and the ability to state and defend what the model does and does not capture.
Hands-on working knowledge of deformable mirrors, wavefront sensors, and high-bandwidth feedback control, sufficient to specify them, review a vendor’s implementation, and judge whether a delivered system meets its requirements.
Ability to set and audit closed-loop control requirements: bandwidth, latency, sampling, reconstructor approach, and disturbance rejection.
Experience working directly with external vendors or partner organizations on custom optical and electro-optical systems, including specification negotiation and design reviews.
Experience directing the technical work of other engineers, scientists, or technicians through a substantial task.
Experience with high-energy or high-intensity laser systems and the constraints they place on optics, including damage threshold and thermal management.
Advanced verbal and written communication skills, including technical documentation, requirements definition, and presentation to internal and external audiences.
Willingness to travel to partner facilities and test sites.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer, Directed Energy

The role

Principal Electro-Optical/Adaptive Optics Engineer, Directed Energy

The role

What you need

Requirements and Performance Modeling

Requirements

Nice to have

Vendor and Partner Engagement

Integration, Test, and Commissioning

Technical Stewardship and Group Growth

Pay and benefits

About Xcimer Energy

Similar jobs at other companies

Senior Opto-mechanical Engineer

Laser Architect (f/m/d)

Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer (f/m/d)

Senior Mechanical Engineer - Optical Diagnostics

Director of Laser Engineering

Interview questions

Xcimer Energy

Compared with similar jobs