R&D Engineer
About the job
- Demonstrated success in building complex optomechanical prototypes and products.
- Willingness to become an expert at new fabrication disciplines.
- Hands-on experience with precision test equipment.
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents for U.S. Government contracts.
- A bachelor's degree in physics or engineering, or equivalent professional experience, with experience in an research and development environment.
- Collaborate with physicists and engineers to rapidly iterate designs and prototypes.
- Work with electrical, mechanical, and optical engineers to create, assemble, and test complex sensor and clock hardware.
- Procure mechanical and optical components.
- Coordinate component and subsystem fabrication and assembly.
- Assemble and test vacuum systems.
- Align lasers through single-mode optical fibers and through bulk electro-optic and acousto-optic devices.
- Collaborate with electrical engineers to define, document, and implement printed circuit board test plans.
- Build and test prototype circuits and test fixtures.
- Procure and maintain mechanical and optical test equipment.
- Report results of validation testing.
- Skilled in mechanical prototyping, including basic machining and finishing operations.
- Hands-on experience with vacuum system design, assembly, and testing.
- Expertise in aligning and securing micro-optics components.
- Basic understanding of Gaussian beam optics.
- Experience with optical testing of polarization, wavefront flatness, reflectivity, optical phase shifts, beam aberrations, and related properties.
- Operational familiarity with laser frequency stabilization.
- Skilled in electrical prototyping, including printed circuit board fabrication, assembly, soldering, and rework.
- Experience testing low-noise analog, mixed-signal, and radio-frequency electronics.
- Basic knowledge of data acquisition and simulation software such as MATLAB, LabVIEW, Visual Basic, Python, and C or C++.
- Experience with mechanical and optical design software such as SolidWorks, COMSOL, ANSYS, Zemax, and FRED.
- Familiarity with OrCAD or Altium schematic capture and printed circuit board layout.
- Experience developing flight-qualified hardware.
- Hands-on experience with optical test equipment.
About the company
AOSense develops high-performance quantum sensors using cold-atom technology for navigation, timekeeping, and gravity measurement. It designs, fabricates, and tests atom-optic devices that cool and manipulate atoms with frequency-stable lasers, enabling precision measurements through atom interferometry. The company differentiates itself with Stanford-based expertise, experienced leadership, and a track record of government SBIR contracts, delivering custom SWaP-optimized solutions for defense, aerospace, and scientific customers. Its goal is to turn advanced cold-atom research into deployable systems that enable resilient GPS-denied navigation, reliable timing, and geophysical surveying.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Grant
Total Funding
$26.8M
Headquarters
Fremont, California
Founded
2004
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Lockheed Martin, Q-CTRL, and AOSense announced QuINS on March 12, 2025.
- NASA awarded AOSense a $149,914 SBIR on August 27, 2025 for Rydberg-sensor lasers.
- DoD awarded AOSense $1.7 million in April 2026 for low-power rubidium oscillators.
What critics are saying
- AOSense depends on U.S. government awards; federal contracts fund nearly all revenue.
- Lockheed’s QuINS program concentrates commercialization through primes, squeezing AOSense’s pricing power.
- No major non-defense customer base creates existential budget risk if DoD priorities shift by 2028.
What makes AOSense unique
- Stanford-born AOSense pioneered atom-interferometric sensors since 2004, unlike MEMS rivals.
- Boeing’s 2024 flight test validated AOSense’s quantum IMU in airborne GPS-denied navigation.
- AOSense builds clocks, gravimeters, and subcomponents, not just single-navigation payloads.
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Benefits
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance