Senior Optomechanical Engineer

The role

The Senior Optomechanical Engineer will own optical subsystems on robotic weapon platforms, including cameras, thermal imagers, and sensor heads. You will design mounts, housings, and seals to ensure optics maintain alignment and performance under extreme thermal and mechanical stress. This is a hands-on role involving building, aligning, and testing assemblies in the lab and at the range.

What you will do

• Own optical subsystems from concept through production and field support
• Design kinematic, semi-kinematic, flexure, bonded, and retained mounts
• Select materials to balance CTE match, stiffness, mass, and cost
• Manage shock and vibration through structural design and FEA
• Design sealed, purged, and desiccated housings to prevent contamination
• Develop alignment and co-boresighting methods and fixtures
• Translate lens prescriptions into buildable assemblies
• Plan and run thermal cycling, vibration, shock, humidity, and water-ingress testing
• Work with machine shops and suppliers on tolerances and process capability
• Support the field by watching sensors under fire at the range

Required qualifications

• 10+ years of optomechanical engineering experience
• Hands-on expertise in kinematic and exact-constraint mounting
• Strong materials judgment for thermal stability versus cost
• Practical shock and vibration experience including MIL-STD-810 or equivalent
• Experience designing and building sealed optical housings
• Fluency with optical tolerance and error budgets
• Proficiency in FEA (modal, structural, thermal)
• Strong GD&T and drawing skills
• Hands-on alignment and test skills using tools like autocollimators and interferometry
• Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, optical engineering, or physics, or equivalent experience

Nice to have

• Experience with weapon-mounted or gun-fire-exposed optics
• Experience with infrared optics and windows
• Experience with laser rangefinders or other active optical systems
• STOP analysis experience with tools such as Zemax OpticStudio, Code V, or Sigmadyne SigFit
• Experience with gimbal and stabilized-platform design
• Experience taking optical assemblies from prototype into rate production
• An interest in firearms
• Experience in a venture-backed hardware startup

Benefits

• Meaningful Early Equity
• Direct Roadmap Influence
• Mission-Critical Work
• The Builder's Playground lab with NVIDIA Jetsons and 3-D printers
• 100% Employer-Paid Premiums for medical, dental, and vision
• 50% coverage of healthcare premiums for dependents
• Unlimited PTO
• Zero Red Tape
• Austin-Based Culture
• Relocation Assistance

Before you apply

• Initial screen with recruiter (30 min phone call)
• Virtual interview with Director of Hardware Operations (30 min via MS Teams)
• Onsite interview at our Austin facility (1 hour in-person)

About the company

9 Mothers develops AI powered machines designed to intercept and neutralize Group 1/sUAS threats in real-time. They build low-power, counter-drone systems for vehicles, bases, or soldiers' packs.