Lead Software Systems Engineer Jobs in Rochester, NY

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The Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that provide more than 150 material formulations for glass, glass ceramics and fluoride crystals to meet demand for unique customer needs. Consequently, this segment operates in a wide variety of commercial and industrial markets that include display optics and components, semiconductor optics components, aerospace and defense, astronomy, ophthalmic products, telecommunications components and cover glass that is optimized for portable display devices.

We are seeking a Systems Engineer to develop and manage product requirements for advanced semiconductor inspection and metrology optical systems. This role is responsible for translating customer specifications and internal performance targets into clear, testable system and subsystem requirements, and ensuring proper flow-down across optical, mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing disciplines.

The ideal candidate has experience working in fast-paced commercial environments, balancing aggressive performance, cost, and schedule constraints while maintaining rigorous requirements traceability and verification.

• Requirements Development & Flow-Down
  • Analyze customer specifications, tool requirements, and statements of work to derive complete and verifiable system requirements
  • Develop and maintain:
    • System-level performance and functional requirements
    • Subsystem and component-level requirements for optics, illumination, mechanics, electronics, software, and algorithms
  • Ensure requirements are:
    • Quantitative, unambiguous, and verifiable
    • Aligned with customer acceptance criteria and internal development standards
• System Architecture & Technical Execution
  • Define and maintain system architecture and interfaces across multidisciplinary teams
  • Allocate performance budgets (optical, thermal, mechanical stability, timing, reliability)
  • Lead technical trade studies to support architecture and design decisions
  • Support system-level modeling, error budgets, and margin analysis
  • Identify and mitigate technical risks related to performance, manufacturability, and cost
• Verification, Validation & Manufacturing Support
  • Define verification and validation (V&V) plans aligned with customer acceptance tests
  • Ensure requirements traceability to verification methods (analysis, inspection, test)
  • Support integration, system bring-up, and factory acceptance testing
  • Work closely with manufacturing and quality teams to ensure requirements are producible and testable at volume
• Cross-Functional & Customer Interaction
  • Act as the technical interface between:
    • Customers and field engineering teams
    • Optical, mechanical, electrical, software, and manufacturing engineers
    • Program management and operations
  • Support customer technical reviews and requirement clarifications
  • Contribute to proposal development and technical responses

• Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field
• 7+ years of experience in systems engineering for complex electro-optical products
• Demonstrated experience with:
  • Requirements development and flow-down
  • System architecture and interface definition
  • Verification and validation planning
• Working knowledge of optical inspection or imaging systems
• Experience working directly from customer-provided specifications

• Master’s degree in a related engineering discipline
• Experience with semiconductor inspection, metrology, or lithography systems
• Familiarity with requirements management tools