Optical Systems Engineer

Location: Greater Paris Area, France | Freelance/Permanent (CDI), On-site

Languages: English required (French a plus)

About the Company

The company develops communication systems for high reliability sectors like Defence, Aerospace & Space. The senior engineering team operates with direct technical ownership: leads design, decide, and manage their discipline across our product portfolio from concept to flight hardware.

The Role & Impact

Take line ownership of the optical discipline. Optical links replace crowded RF spectrum with secure, high-throughput laser beams for satellite constellations and tactical communications. You inherit a working baseline and drive optical designs from architecture trades to delivered hardware.

What You Will Own

• Architecture & Trades: Lead system trades, radiometric/link budgets, and negotiate constraints across optical, mechanical, thermal, and electrical domains.
• Design & Modelling: Produce optical prescriptions for manufacture; build ray-tracing models (OpticStudio, CodeV, FRED) and analytical scripts (Python/Mathematica).
• Hardware & Metrology: Drive assembly, alignment, and test campaigns; specify custom Optical Ground Support Equipment (OGSE).
• Error Budgets & Supply Chain: Defend error margins at reviews and manage technical interfaces with optics vendors and coating houses.
• Discipline Ownership: Document methods, maintain configuration control of the optical baseline, and mentor team members.
• Single-Point Ownership: Named accountability for every subsystem and analysis.
• Shared Baseline: Decisions and parameters are recorded in a central baseline.
• Hardware-Paced: Technical arguments are direct; milestone dates set the pace.

What You Bring

• Background: Degree in Optics, Photonics, Physics, or Optical Engineering.
• Hardware Track Record: Experience designing, specifying, aligning, and delivering functional optical hardware.
• Software Proficiency: Expertise in professional optical design tools (OpticStudio, CodeV, FRED) and analytical scripting.
• Technical Depth: Stray-light analysis, coating specs, Monte Carlo tolerancing, and bench metrology (interferometry, wavefront sensing).
• System Instincts: Strong grasp of space/defence electro-optics trades and confidence defending error budgets.