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Salary: USD 130,000 - 200,000 / annual
fab2 is an early-stage hardware startup founded by Sam Zeloof and Jim Keller, designing and manufacturing semiconductor fabrication equipment, tools, and components. The company operates labs and offices in Austin, Lockhart, and San Francisco.
The Precision Team works at the nanometer scale, developing lithography, metrology, and motion systems to pattern, inspect, and characterize chips. fab2's philosophy emphasizes rapid iteration—building and testing in days or weeks rather than months.
As an Optical Systems Engineer, you will design, prototype, assemble, test, and debug precision optical and optomechanical systems. Core responsibilities include:
- Design, prototype, and develop precision optical and optomechanical components and systems
- Build, align, and test optical systems on the bench
- Integrate off-the-shelf products such as motion stages and metrology equipment
- Perform detailed optical performance modeling, aberration analysis, tolerance analysis, and stray light analysis
- Work with suppliers to source components and materials, including custom optics fabrication
- Design lens mounting components and methods
This is a hands-on role requiring a proven track record of rapidly prototyping complex optical systems and advancing them to production. A portfolio demonstrating actual built work is generally required.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree or higher in Optical Engineering, Optical Sciences, Physics, or Mechanical Engineering with demonstrated optical design work
- 3+ years of industry experience designing and implementing optical systems
- Working fluency in optical design and analysis: first-order layout, aberration theory, tolerance analysis, Monte Carlo yield prediction, and stray light analysis
- Familiarity with Zemax or similar optical simulation tools (sequential and non-sequential ray tracing)
- Hands-on optical alignment and test experience (e.g., interferometry wavefront error measurement, troubleshooting)
- Mechanical 3D CAD experience
NICE-TO-HAVE:
- Precision machine design fundamentals: exact-constraint design, kinematic couplings, flexures, error budgeting, structural loops, tolerance analysis
- Structural, thermal, and optical performance modeling
- Experience with UV or DUV wavelengths, including material, coating, and contamination constraints
- Early-stage startup experience
- Firmware, controls, or electrical engineering familiarity
