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Elio is building next-generation sensing systems that combine advanced optics and AI to transform light into structured, actionable information. The platform uses real-time machine learning to extract rich physical signals beyond traditional imaging, enabling deeper insight and better decision-making. Initial applications focus on biology and drug discovery, with planned expansion into robotics, semiconductors, and other industries where understanding complex physical environments is critical.
The hardware team owns the full scope of physical instrument development: optics, optomechanics, motion, electronics, and industrial design. This role sits at the center of how the system is built, packaged, and reproduced.
You will own the optomechanical and industrial design of the sensing platform, turning general system architecture into mounts, fixtures, and housings that hold micron-level alignment, survive shipping, and can be built at scale. You will work directly with the Head of Hardware, optical systems engineers, and lab technicians who assemble and align systems. This is a hands-on design role with real ownership: from tolerance stack analysis to a part on the bench to a fully functional system.
Key responsibilities include:
- Design opto-mechanical systems and system integration: mounts and assemblies for optics, light modulators, mirrors, dichroics, filters, and cameras
- Own end-to-end custom module mechanical architecture: housings, enclosures, alignment fixtures, lab instruments
- Run tolerance stack-up analysis from optical sensitivity budget, allocate mechanical tolerances, and define datums and reference faces that propagate from optical model into CAD and shop drawings
- Design kinematic mounts to stabilize alignment and design fixtures and jigs that make assembly fast and deterministic
- Design instrument enclosure: covers, panels, light-sealing, cable management, and service access
- Translate industrial design intent into manufacturable machined, molded, or printed parts
- Design for manufacturing and assembly; address thermal and vibration considerations at enclosure and structural level
- Manage third-party equipment manufacturers for prototyping and component production
- Produce fully toleranced drawings and STEP models, design reviews, and release packages to machine shops
- Support assembly and alignment on the bench alongside lab technicians; provide feedback into next system design
- Maintain CAD source of truth, revision control, and bill of materials for mechanical parts
Qualifications:
- Degree in Mechanical Engineering and/or equivalent hands-on experience
- 3+ years of demonstrated optomechanical design work
- Fluency in parametric CAD package (SolidWorks, Fusion360, NX, or similar) including assemblies, drawings, and GD&T
- Working command of tolerance analysis: stack-ups, datum schemes, fits, and judgment to know which dimensions matter
- Experience releasing parts to machine shops: DFM, materials, finishes, and fabrication needs
- Comfort on the bench; happy to assemble, prototype, measure, and iterate alongside engineers and technicians
- Experience with motorized stages and motion systems and how they integrate mechanically and electrically
- Enclosure and industrial design experience: packaging for a product
- Background in laser systems, semiconductor, sensing, or precision-instrument hardware (a plus)
- Familiarity with thermal management and vibration isolation for sensitive optical instruments
- Exposure to FEA for structural and thermal checks (a plus)
- Collaboration experience across disciplines with fundamental functional understanding between optics, electronics, assembly, and integration
