Optical Engineer Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Photon Queue builds the world's leading quantum memory devices – systems that store and release single photons. Using a unique free-space storage architecture that achieves kilometer-scale optical path lengths in a compact form factor, we sidestep the fundamental limitations of every competing approach and deliver storage fidelity and efficiency levels that no other technology can match in a device that can actually be deployed and integrated into real quantum systems.

We're solving a critical infrastructure problem for the quantum ecosystem: without a reliable way to synchronize photons across a quantum network or photonic processor, the promise of quantum computing, sensing, and communications stalls. Photon Queue is the synchronization layer that makes progress possible. Our systems are already in use at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Maryland, and demand is growing fast.

We're an early-stage, fast-growing team of physicists and engineers turning two decades of laboratory research into the best commercial quantum memory platform. With strong institutional backing and commercial traction at leading national labs, we're at an exciting breakout moment – the kind where the work you do today directly shapes the trajectory of the company tomorrow.

There's no corporate bureaucracy here, just sharp people working on hard problems, with direct ownership over what they build and clear visibility into its impact. Every person on the team shapes the product and the company. If you thrive in an environment where your work matters from day one and where espresso, rigor, and curiosity are the culture, you'll fit right in.

The Senior Optical Engineer owns the optical engine of Photon Queue's quantum memory platform. In this role you will take end-to-end ownership of the optical system design – from customer and system requirements through to the final product. Working within a cross-functional team, you will develop the full 3D optical layout, formulate alignment strategies, build optical performance models, perform stray light, sensitivity, and tolerance analyses, prescribe component specifications, and qualify hardware performance. As the technical authority on everything light touches in the system, your designs set the performance floor that everything else is built around.

Location: On-site, Chicago area

We are an in-office company, and our expectation is that employees primarily work from their Photon Queue office 5 days a week. However, we also recognize the importance of flexibility and trust our employees to manage their schedules responsibly. This may include occasional remote work, starting the day with morning meetings from home before heading to the office, or leaving earlier when needed to accommodate family commitments.

• Salary: $130k - $170k
• Equity: 0.3% - 0.6%

Concept Development

• Translate system-level and customer requirements into detailed optical requirements, and run trade studies on competing optical architectures to guide early design decisions
• Assess feasibility of new concepts and articulate design trade-offs to engineering leadership and cross-functional partners

Detailed Design & Analysis

• Own the optical prescription end-to-end – design the free-space reflection cell, prescribe mode-matching optics, set the optical path geometry between elements, and design the active alignment systems that hold the system in spec
• Build and own the optical performance models that predict and optimize the system's key figures of merit – optical delay, throughput, and beam quality – using Gaussian beam, polarization, and stray light analysis
• Run sensitivity analyses and build the optical error budget, flowing tolerances down to individual elements and assemblies to drive the mechanical design
• Specify every optical component – substrate, coatings, surface figure, surface roughness, and surface quality – and translate those specifications into drawings for fabrication

Software & Tooling

• Develop both scripted and agentic Python workflows that automate optical layout generation and CAD integration to accelerate design iteration
• Script and automate optical simulations and analyses

Prototyping, Testing & Manufacturing

• Build and characterize optical hardware using optical metrology to validate performance against system requirements and model predictions
• Design and build optical test stations and benches for engineering and production testing
• Translate the alignment strategy into repeatable alignment methods, acceptance tests, and work instructions that transfer the design reliably into production

Execution & Delivery

• Identify, select, and manage optical vendors; lead DFM discussions to ensure designs are manufacturable and meet performance targets
• Lead optical design reviews and own the supporting documentation - specifications, drawings, and test plans
• Support field failure analysis and re-alignment for deployed systems

Requirements

• M.S. or higher in Optical Engineering, Physics, EE, or a related field (or a B.S. with additional experience), plus 5+ years of optical system design through the complete product lifecycle; a Ph.D. may count toward the experience
• High proficiency in optical design and analysis software (FRED, LightTools, Zemax or similar) and in Python for simulation, analysis automation, and lab test software
• Strong grounding in physical optics and Gaussian beam propagation, with hands-on experience in optical metrology (flatness, roughness, wavefront and beam quality), sensitivity analysis, and error budgets
• Strong communication skills – able to lead design reviews and collaborate across engineering disciplines

• Familiarity with CAD, GD&T and with optical fabrication processes
• Experience with optical alignment techniques
• Familiarity with free-space optical, laser, quantum, or photonic systems
• Familiarity with automated and agentic workflow development
• Comfortable or excited to work in a startup or fast-paced environment

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of the qualifications stated above. We’re looking for the right candidate with the aptitude and drive to learn and grow with us. That may just be you!

Candidates must have current US work authorization - we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

Benefits

• Health Insurance:
• Medical – 100% covered for Employee, 80% covered for dependents
• Dental, Vision and Life – 100% covered for Employee and dependents
• Flexible time-off
• 401(k) in the near future
• Parental leave:
• 6 weeks of paid Parental Bonding Leave for mothers and fathers of new children welcomed into their family (birthed or adopted).
• For birthing mothers, an additional 6 weeks of paid Medical Recovery Leave to build back your health and strength before returning to solving the problems of storing photons.