Full-Time

Lead Optical Analysis Engineer

Posted on 8/27/2025

Albedo

Albedo

51-200 employees

Delivers high-resolution VLEO Earth imagery

Compensation Overview

$194.6k - $213.2k/yr

No H1B Sponsorship

Denver, CO, USA

In Person

Relocation package if not based in Denver.

US Citizenship Required

Category
Aerospace Engineering (1)
Requirements
  • 5-10+ years of experience working optical system analysis and optimization
  • Familiarity with various optical design and analysis software tools
  • Deep understanding of optical sensitivities, aberrations and what effects them in mechanical design/implementation
  • Experience with WFE budgets, allocation and budget management
  • Experience with STOP modeling and the iterative, multi-disciplinary process
  • Hands on experience optimizing optical systems to reduce aberrations and WFE
  • Regularly uses AI tools as essential leverage to accelerate work, improve clarity, and multiply output
Responsibilities
  • Responsible for interpretation and analysis of STOP results to and sensitivity analysis to determine next steps in design iteration
  • Work with team to understand details of design causing results and iterate to optimize the design
  • Obscuration analysis for Verity opto-mechanical design
  • Line of Sight analysis for Verity opto-mechanical design
  • Field Angle Map analysis for Verity opto-mechanical design
  • Emissivity analysis of payload for LWIR imaging
  • Converting all low-level WFE contributions of opto-mechanical design into simplified WFE budget. Working with the opto-mech designers to map the non-perfect aspects of their designs into rms WFE space from mechanical space including thermal-structural dynamics. Identify terms we cannot quantify at various levels of assembly and determine impact/path forward to ensure design closes with integration.
  • Develop and perform Monte Carlo WFE prediction from current RSS WFE prediction
  • Manage WFE budget as design progresses to re-allocate terms which can and cannot meet original allocation
  • Allocate WFE margin as design matures
  • Create merit function for existing system design
  • WFE accounting for the 1g mission and associated uncertainty, each of the different major alignment step missions, and the post-environmental test mission, in addition to the normal 0g mission
  • Produce overall predicted system WFE maps, including step-by-step expectations per alignment plan – Including 1g to 0g analytical prediction
  • Analyze AIT environmental impacts to alignment measurement error

Albedo operates a Very Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation to capture high-resolution Earth imagery and thermal data. Its dual-modality data provides 10 cm panchromatic (visible) and 2-meter infrared imagery by placing satellites much closer to Earth than typical observers. After launching Clarity-1 in 2025, the company planned a 24-satellite constellation by 2028 and then shifted to focus on manufacturing VLEO satellite buses for other operators while offering imagery through partners. The data supports fields like agriculture, insurance, energy, infrastructure, mapping, and national security with the goal of scaling the constellation and enabling broader access to high-resolution geospatial information through satellite bus manufacturing.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Series B

Total Funding

$193.1M

Headquarters

Denver, Colorado

Founded

2020

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Series B round April 2025 values Albedo at $285M pre-money.
  • Advisory board includes LTG Patrick O’Reilly from L3Harris since 2025.
  • Secured $12M US Air Force contract post-Clarity-1 launch.

What critics are saying

  • Maxar and Planet Labs dominate with established constellations.
  • ITAR controls restrict high-res sales outside US allies.
  • SpaceX Starshield develops competing VLEO capabilities by 2028.

What makes Albedo unique

  • Albedo manufactures VLEO satellite buses operating at 250-400 km altitudes.
  • Clarity-1 satellite launched March 2025 exceeded performance expectations.
  • Pivot to bus manufacturing in October 2025 targets defense payload operators.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

401(k) Company Match

Paid Vacation

Paid Holidays

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Parental Leave

Relocation Assistance

Wellness Program

Flexible Work Hours

Company Equity

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Company Social Events

Professional Development Budget

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-4%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
DNYUZ
Apr 23rd, 2025
Albedo raises $100M at $285M valuation

Satellite imagery startup Albedo is raising a Series B funding round, valuing the company at $285 million pre-money. Led by General Innovation Capital, the round will bring in nearly $100 million. Albedo, which launched its first satellite, Clarity-1, and secured a $12 million US Air Force contract, has raised privacy concerns due to its high-resolution imagery capabilities. Founded in 2020, Albedo's investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Y Combinator.

Startup Italia
Mar 18th, 2024
Grande Fratello Spaziale. I Satelliti Spioni Di Una Startup Usa

Privacy weekly, il guest post di Guido Scorza, avvocato e componente del Collegio del Garante per la Protezione dei dati personali. Un viaggio intorno al mondo su tutela della privacy e digitaleNon bastavano centinaia di milioni di occhi elettronici diversamente intelligenti che, ormai, quotidianamente ci scrutano in ogni dove dalla terra rendendo ogni giorno più difficile rivendicare un vero diritto alla privacy e, con esso, il grappolo di diritti fondamentali e libertà dei quali è fiero difensore. Ora, a leggere le notizie che rimbalzano dalle colonne del New York Times, dobbiamo cominciare a preoccuparci anche di migliaia di occhi elettronici egualmente indiscreti che presto potrebbero far capolino nel firmamento, giusto tra una stella e l’altra. La startup americana Albedo Space ha, infatti, raccolto 100 milioni di dollari per progettare e costruire una flotta di satelliti che dal 2025 scruteranno il mondo, persone comprese, ventiquattro ore su ventiquattro, dallo spazio a una distanza dalla terra inferiore rispetto a quella delle orbite già oggi solcate da migliaia di altri satelliti.I satelliti di Albedo SpaceE da quell’altezza, a quanto pare, sarà possibile – almeno tecnologicamente – sgretolare il muro della riservatezza perché poco o niente resterà indistinguibile. Numeri di targa, volti delle persone e, probabilmente, anche dettagli più piccoli. Il rimedio più sicuro per la difesa della nostra privacy, forse, diventerà il sano e vecchio ombrello, da usare rigorosamente anche nei giorni di sole!Leggi anche: Gli USA pronti alla guerra dei dati con Cina e Russia?Scherzi a parte – anche perché lo scenario è inquietante e fa passare la voglia di ridere – benché il rischio di una sorveglianza di massa dallo spazio esista ormai da tempo, ciò che preoccupa della nuova possibile avventura spaziale è la verosimile apertura all’accesso ai nuovi satelliti a un pubblico enormemente più vasto e, probabilmente, la progressiva diminuzione dei costi almeno direttamente proporzionata all’aumento dell’offerta di servizi e soluzioni utili a osservare dall’alto ciò che accade sulla terra.L’occhio indiscreto dei satelliti di Albedo SpaceSenza dire – ma solo perché ovvio – che la stessa evoluzione tecnologica, inesorabilmente, pone e porrà sfide sempre più complicate per la difesa della privacy rispetto al rischio di invasioni provenienti dallo spazio

Business Wire
Mar 11th, 2024
Albedo Expands Strategic Advisory Board

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Albedo, the first company to offer aerial quality imagery from space - enabled by the new orbit frontier of VLEO (very low earth orbit) - today announced the expansion of its Strategic Advisory Board to include LTG Patrick O’Reilly, US Army (Ret), and Rick Ambrose joining as members. They join existing members Vice Admiral Bob Sharp, USN (Ret), Jen Stewart, The Honorable Joan Dempsey, and Dr. John Deutch, who were announced in May 2023. LTG Patrick O’Reilly, US Army (Ret) is a Vice President, Corporate Strategy at L3Harris Technologies, where he leverages his military and corporate expertise to focus on venture-capital investments in start-up technology companies. LTG O’Reilly is fully embedded in the Shield Capital Venture Investments firm’s team in accordance with the L3Harris / Shield Capital strategic partnership. Prior to his commercial industry roles, LTG O’Reilly enjoyed a distinguished, 35-year career in the US Army, highlighted by managing unprecedented missile, radar, power, vehicle, construction engineering, watercraft, and logistic research and acquisition programs, culminating in his becoming director of the US Missile Defense Agency

Business Wire
Jan 24th, 2024
Albedo Raises $35M to Commercialize Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO)

Today, Albedo announced a $35M Series A-1 financing round led by Standard Investments, bringing the company's total funding to $97M.

SpaceNews
Jan 23rd, 2024
Albedo raises $35 million for commercial very low Earth orbit constellation

Albedo raised $35 million to build and launch its first high-resolution Earth-imagery satellite.

INACTIVE