Full-Time
Optical Systems Engineer
Project Canary
51-200 employees
SaaS-based emissions data analytics platform
Compensation Overview
$160k - $190k/yr
Hayward, CA, USA
In Person
Bachelor's, Master's
 Mechanical Engineering (1) |
|---|
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- A bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
- At least 6 years of hands-on experience in prototype development, optical instrumentation, and precision mechanical design.
- Experience designing, assembling, aligning, and troubleshooting systems that combine optical, mechanical, electrical, thermal, and software subsystems.
- Proficiency with mechanical computer-aided design tools such as SolidWorks, including experience creating bills of materials, drawings, and assembly documentation.
- Experience taking products from development through production and into customers' hands.
- Demonstrated use of data collection and analysis to drive design and process improvements.
- Experience working in startup or small-team environments that require rapid communication, collaboration, and problem-solving.
- Demonstrated ability to move designs from concept through production and work through technical roadblocks.
- Design next-generation laser spectroscopy optical systems, including optical architecture and component selection.
- Own optical system designs from concept through testing, production release, and ongoing manufacturing support.
- Prototype, build, align, test, and troubleshoot high-precision optomechanical assemblies.
- Research and evaluate lasers, detectors, mirrors, lenses, coatings, and other optical components to improve performance, reliability, and cost.
- Select materials and design mechanical elements that provide stable, manufacturable optical assemblies.
- Develop precision fixtures, bonding methods, and packaging techniques to improve design robustness and reliability.
- Plan and execute verification and validation testing to confirm designs are ready for production.
- Apply knowledge of laser spectroscopy technologies and methodologies across optical, mechanical, electrical, thermal, and software systems.
- Design, build, and validate tooling and fixtures for assembly, optical alignment, testing, and pilot production.
- Support manufacturing and customers by troubleshooting instrument performance and resolving optical system issues.
- Document optical testing, design results, and production procedures.
- A master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field.
- Experience with laser-based spectroscopy, lasers, photodetectors, and precision optics.
- Experience with reliability testing, field analysis, and root cause analysis.
- Experience using LabVIEW, MATLAB, scripting, or similar tools for data analysis and automated test systems.
- Experience using optical design and simulation tools such as Zemax.
Project Canary provides a SaaS-based data analytics platform focused on environmental performance for emissions-intensive industries, notably oil and gas. It gathers data from its own continuous monitoring sensors, third-party sensors, OGI cameras, and satellites to deliver real-time, facility-level emissions insights via the Canary Carbon Portal, supporting regulatory compliance with standards like EPA Subpart W and OGMP 2.0, and using hardware for verifiable measurements. The TrustWell independent certification adds a third-party rating of environmental performance to help buyers verify the credentials of energy producers. Its goal is to help customers reduce methane and other emissions, improve ESG reporting, and extend solutions to markets such as agriculture and landfills.
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Series B
Total Funding
$121M
Headquarters
Denver, Colorado
Founded
2018
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- September 2025 customer adoption accelerated across oil, gas, and utilities deployments.
- October 2025 patent portfolio strengthened operational intelligence defensibility against imitators.
- April 2025 partnerships with QLM and Aeroqual expanded integrations and broadened market reach.
What critics are saying
- Revelio shows headcount fell from 111 in Q1 2025 to 90 in Q1 2026.
- Oil and gas still dominates revenue, leaving Project Canary exposed to operator capex cuts.
- Sensor vendors like QLM and Aeroqual commoditize monitoring, compressing margins and platform differentiation.
What makes Project Canary unique
- Project Canary unifies sensors, satellites, aircraft, SCADA, and field teams into one workflow.
- November 2025 studies and March 2026 analysis validate proprietary methane datasets across 940 facilities.
- May 2025 utilities launch broadened Canary beyond oil and gas into gas distribution networks.
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Benefits
Professional Development Budget
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
↑ 0%1 year growth
↑ 2%2 year growth
↑ 23%Project Canary, a Denver-based emissions measurement and reporting platform, has partnered with Sniffer Robotics Inc., a drone-based emissions monitoring company, to develop methane emissions monitoring and quantification tools at landfill sites.
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google NewsProducers of methane gas have a problem. What they are selling is a climate-killer 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. For many decades, the world has focused on carbon dioxide when planning ways to address global heating. If you read the final reports from the Paris climate conference in 2015, the word “methane” is largely absent from any texts. The result of that historic international meeting was all about reducing carbon emissions, and why not? The world has a nervous eye on the carbon tracker at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, the one that measures the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
DENVER, June 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ - Project Canary, a climate tech company focused on enterprise emissions data management, today announced the launch of its 'Canary Carbon Portal', a cutting-edge emissions accounting software solution.
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Project Canary, an enterprise emissions intelligence platform that helps energy leaders identify, measure, understand, and act to reduce GHG emissions, and Colorado State University’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) today announced their collaboration to improve and validate a first-of-its-kind web-based high-fidelity dispersion simulator tool to visualize the dispersion of gases released from one or multiple sources and ultimately assist in the quantification of total site emissions. Developed by Project Canary, the simulator uses knowledge gained from approximately a year of controlled release testing and working with operators to quantify emissions at 200+ oil and gas production and midstream facilities throughout North America. The project's goal is to develop accurate and transparent methods for emissions quantification, which are critical to generating credible GHG emissions information in response to the increasing demand by national governments, investors, the market, insurance firms, and society. The tool offers a user-friendly environment to modify a wide range of variables impacting the dispersion of gases, allowing users to observe the impact of pollutant dispersion on concentration levels at user-defined receptor locations. Variables include wind speed, wind direction, site obstructions, atmospheric stability classes, number of sources, and emission rates from different sources
Project Canary is excited to announce the launch of a new Canary SENSE homepage that provides some exciting new features.