Director of Laser Engineering

Responsibilities

• Lead the Laser Engineering department, including hiring, onboarding, mentoring, and performance development of engineering staff.
• Define and own the technical roadmap for laser system development, maturation, scaling, and industrial deployment.
• Oversee the design, integration, testing, validation, and commissioning of large-scale laser systems with strong emphasis on reliability, manufacturability, repeatability, and operational performance.
• Collaborate closely with experimental physics teams to evaluate existing laser architectures, experimental results, and critical design tradeoffs.
• Review and assess current laser technologies and architectures to identify technical risks, limitations, opportunities, and areas for improvement.
• Drive technical decision-making related to future laser system architectures using experimental data, modeling results, and system-level performance analysis.
• Partner cross-functionally with optics engineering, optomechanical engineering, pulsed power, materials science, controls, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams to ensure effective communication and technical alignment.
• Translate experimental insights and lessons learned into robust engineering designs, specifications, and scalable production-ready systems.
• Lead the transition from prototype and research systems to reliable industrial-grade laser products and infrastructure.
• Establish engineering best practices, design review processes, technical documentation standards, and quality expectations for complex laser systems.
• Identify technical risks across laser development programs and drive mitigation strategies to support program execution and long-term scalability.
• Manage relationships with external vendors and partners supplying laser components, hardware, and subsystems.
• Support system troubleshooting, root cause investigations, and corrective action implementation during development and operations.
• Align laser engineering priorities with company strategy, schedules, budgets, and organizational objectives in partnership with executive leadership.

Qualifications

• Education: Advanced degree in Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related technical field; MS or PhD preferred.
• Experience: 10+ years of experience designing, developing, and delivering industrial laser systems.
• Prior experience leading engineering teams, technical organizations, or major technical programs.
• Strong understanding of laser system architectures, integration, and performance considerations.
• Experience scaling laser systems from laboratory or R&D environments into industrial or production settings.
• Strong communication, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to operate effectively within a rapidly evolving and fast-paced organization.
• Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on technical leadership with strategic organizational oversight.
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new laser technologies and system architectures.
• 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.

Desired

• Direct experience with pulsed gas laser systems.
• Experience with large-scale or high-energy laser architectures.
• Familiarity with high-power laser operations and industrial laser infrastructure.
• Experience supporting manufacturing, integration, commissioning, or field deployment activities.
• Experience working within fast-growth startup or scale-up engineering environments.