Senior Optical Engineer - R&D
About the job
- Strong background in optical engineering, optical design, or related physics-based system work.
- Deep understanding of optical theory and the ability to apply it to real hardware problems.
- Experience designing, analyzing, and debugging optical systems in practice.
- Ability to lead technical investigations from first principles and prior experience.
- Enough mechanical fluency to collaborate effectively on packaging and integration, without needing to be a pure mechanical owner.
- Strong hands-on engineering judgment and comfort working across disciplines.
- Senior-level experience that allows you to guide technical choices with confidence.
- Bachelor of Science or Master of Science in Optical Engineering, Physics, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
- Experience with alignment and characterization of precise optical systems operating in the real world.
- Ability to communicate across mechanical, electrical, optical, and software teams.
- Ability to work self-directed, identify what needs to happen next, and act without being told.
- Lead optical design and analysis for core system components.
- Drive optical investigations, trade studies, and system-level design decisions.
- Specify and evaluate optical components and subsystem architectures.
- Partner with mechanical engineers on packaging, housing, and integration decisions.
- Support tolerance analysis, performance validation, and design iteration.
- Lead or guide alignment, characterization, and test efforts for integrated optical systems.
- Work with vendors and fabricators on manufacturability, tolerancing, and component feasibility.
- Help establish best practices for optical development, validation, and technical documentation.
- Build prototypes, characterize systems, and conduct rigorous testing.
- Debug systems from first principles.
- Work core hours Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; during sprints toward demos or field tests, work nights or weekends as needed.
- Travel to field-test events and range days.
- Experience aligning and characterizing precise optical systems operating in real-world conditions.
About the company
Aurelius Systems builds AI-powered directed-energy laser systems for defense to detect, track, and defeat small drones. Its Archimedes Laser Sentinel is a lightweight, modular autonomous turret for mobile point defense that integrates sensing, processing, and laser engagement. The company differentiates itself with autonomous modular hardware, AI-driven tracking, and a low per-engagement cost compared with missile countermeasures, supported by partnerships for vehicle-mounted deployments. Its goal is to scale Archimedes, increase manufacturing, and expand its market reach through strategic funding and defense collaborations.
Company Size
11-50
Company Stage
Series A
Total Funding
$50M
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Founded
2024
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- August 2026's $40 million Series A funds manufacturing, vertical integration, and market expansion.
- July 2026 Rheinmetall partnership opens robotic combat vehicle deployments and procurement channels.
- September 2026 fiber-laser line diversifies revenue and reduces supply-chain dependence.
What critics are saying
- Defense budgets and procurement cycles still decide whether Archimedes reaches serial production.
- RTX, Lockheed Martin, and Anduril can outspend Aurelius on counter-drone sales.
- If Pentagon pilots stall, Aurelius becomes a capital-intensive laser manufacturer without scale.
What makes Aurelius Systems unique
- Archimedes pairs AI targeting with directed-energy, delivering near-zero-cost drone kills.
- Aurelius won demonstrations at T-REX 26-2, Operation Jailbreak, and Pentagon testing.
- American Rheinmetall integration makes Archimedes vehicle-mountable for mobile point defense.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Paid Vacation
Paid Sick Leave
Meal Benefits
Commuter Benefits
Company Equity
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
26%1 year growth
26%2 year growth
50%Volkswagen wants to sell the plant in Osnabrück. Online as of today, 11:26 a.m. Volkswagen wants to sell the plant in Osnabrück, Germany, to financial investor Aurelius and the state of Lower Saxony. The site is to be gradually developed into a competence center for security and defense solutions, as the automaker announced today. The details of the deal are to be negotiated in the coming months, the parties further explained. Lower Saxony's Minister-President Olaf Lies (SPD) said that with the agreement, his government was opening a real industrial opportunity for Osnabrück. The site had a lot of experience with demanding tasks, and at the same time the security situation had fundamentally changed. Volkswagen is struggling with declining demand and competition from Chinese manufacturers. The supervisory board recently gave the green light for the elimination of a further 50,000 jobs worldwide - in addition to the already agreed group-wide savings of 50,000 positions in Germany by 2030. Further plant closures were also on the table.
10 raises this week, flagged 120 days early. tl;dr: ten early-stage rounds were announced this week, from a $40M Series A down to a $2.3M pre-seed. frontrun had flagged all ten before the news broke, with an average lead time of 120 days. the longest was 179 days. and this week the graph did something better than being early: lightspeed followed a company seven days before announcing it co-led the round. Alloy Robotics: $8M seed, led by Square Peg. Alloy Robotics (@alloyrobotics) raised $8M led by Square Peg, with pre-seed backers Blackbird, Airtree and Skip Capital participating, plus angels from OpenAI, Anthropic, Tesla and Waymo. AI agents that debug robot fleets: logs, telemetry, video and sensor data in, root cause of the failure out. founder: Joe Harris, who scaled Eucalyptus to a $1B acquisition as chief commercial officer before starting Alloy in Sydney · flagged february 13. 179 days. Silicon Data: $30.5M Series A, led by Valor Atreides AI Fund. Silicon Data (@Silicon_Data) raised $30.5M led by the Valor Atreides AI Fund, with CME Group, DRW, F-Prime, Samsung Next, VanEck, Jump and Wintermute. independent pricing indexes and benchmarks for GPU compute, including the reference prices for CME's planned GPU futures market. founder: Carmen Li (CEO, ex-Bloomberg, ex-DRW) · flagged february 28. 165 days. this one is the cleanest acceleration curve Frontrun has published. for months after the flag the account picked up one new tracked investor a month. in may it was 5, including wintermute, who ended up in the round. in july, 14. then on august 6, ten tracked investors followed in a single day, six days before the announcement. Aurelius Systems: $40M Series A, co-led by Draper Associates. Aurelius Systems (@aureliuslasers) raised $40M co-led by Draper Associates and KAS Venture Partners. autonomous laser turrets that detect, track and shoot down drones. Frontrun covered the round in last week's recap; one detail surfaced since: general catalyst followed the account on june 14, seven weeks before appearing among the round's backers. founders: Michael LaFramboise (CEO, ex-Coherent) and John Marmaduke (CTO, ex-Ford) · flagged february 26. 159 days. naïve: $28.5M Series A, led by Nexus. naïve (@usenaive) raised $28.5M led by Nexus Venture Partners. the operating stack AI agents need to run entire businesses. covered in full in last week's recap. founders: Sean Dorje (CEO) and Dennis Zax (CTO), both Berkeley dropouts who sold their first startup as teenagers · flagged march 19, at 1,437 followers. 140 days. Attestable: $20M seed, led by Altimeter and TLV Partners. Attestable (@attestablecom) raised $20M co-led by Altimeter and TLV Partners, with angels including Wiz's Assaf Rappaport. zero-knowledge proofs that let companies verify what an AI model actually computed, without exposing the model or the data. founders: Yogev Bar-On (CEO, ex-RAND, founding team at Fordefi) and Shahar Papini (CTO, six years at StarkWare, then SSI) · flagged april 3. 130 days. River Markets: $8.5M seed, led by Haun Ventures. River Markets (@river_markets) raised $8.5M led by Haun Ventures, with Y Combinator, Coinbase Ventures, Qube and Cherry Ventures. prime brokerage for prediction markets: unified execution, data and risk across kalshi, polymarket and the rest. founders: Oscar Levy (CEO, ex-BlackRock quant) and Antonin Parrot (CTO, ex-HFT), YC P26 · flagged april 14. 119 days. Gravity: $30.5M Series A, co-led by Lightspeed. Gravity (@trygravityai) raised $30.5M co-led by Lightspeed and Committed Capital. an ad exchange that places text-based ads inside AI chatbots and assistants: a DSP for advertisers, an SSP for AI apps, and the exchange between them. founders: Zach Oldham (CEO) and Leo Martinez (CTO), both ex-Flax Labs · flagged may 6, at 36 followers. 92 days. Lemma: $2.3M pre-seed, backed by Matrix. Lemma (@uselemma_ai) raised $2.3M backed by Matrix, Y Combinator and Liquid 2, with angels from OpenAI, xAI and Meta. production monitoring for AI agents that catches silent failures, the runs that looked like they worked but did not, and pushes proposed fixes back to the codebase. founders: Jerry Zhang and Cole Gawin, USC dropouts, YC F25 · flagged june 9, at 107 followers. 65 days. Primitive Labs: pre-seed, led by a16z Speedrun. Primitive Labs (@primitivelabsai) raised a pre-seed led by a16z Speedrun, with Olive Tree Capital, Cloverfield Fund and Josh Constine's Unexpected Investments. AI agents that simulate a company's real customers, so product teams can test features and messaging before shipping. deal trackers list the round at $785K; the company has not disclosed the amount. founders: Rohit Talluri (CEO), Jean Farmer (CTO) and Gabriel Fong (COO), all ex-AWS and Amazon AGI · flagged july 6, the day before geekwire covered their launch. Baselayer: $20M Series A, led by Koro Capital and M13. Baselayer (@baselayerhq) raised $20M co-led by Koro Capital and M13. AI-powered business verification and fraud checks, used by 2,200+ financial institutions. founders: Jonathan Awad (CEO, ex-JPMorgan) and Timothy Hyde (CTO, ex-Snap) · flagged july 6. 28 days. 120 days is the window where the round is still forming. at 165 days silicon data was getting one new investor follow a month. at 92 days gravity had 36 followers. by the time ten investors pile onto an account in a single day, the announcement is six days out and the allocation conversation is over. the sectors this week are a defense laser company, GPU price benchmarks, prediction-market brokerage, chatbot ads and business verification. the signal is not sector-specific because attention is not sector-specific. frontrun tracks the follow graphs of 2,000+ venture investors on X. when several converge on the same small or unlaunched account, that convergence is recorded with a date and the follower count at that moment. alongside it the pipeline runs accelerator-batch monitoring, launch and fundraise detection, and a founder resolution layer. the date is stamped when the signal fires, before any press release exists. that is what makes a lead time provable instead of a story told in hindsight. and increasingly the graph names the buyer too: lightspeed on gravity, general catalyst on aurelius, wintermute on silicon data, each followed before the round they joined was public. every round here joins the receipt ledger with its flag date and source link. these ten already raised. the useful list is the one where the round has not happened yet. see the signal this article is built on frontrun tracks the follow graphs of 2,000+ venture investors and flags companies months before rounds are announced. companies and founders surfaced on frontrun. curated, every week.
Aurelius Systems has closed a $40 million Series A funding round co-led by Draper Associates and KAS Venture Partners, with participation from General Catalyst, Hanwha Defense USA, and others. The San Francisco-based company develops AI-powered counter-drone systems using autonomous directed-energy technology. The funding will advance Aurelius's flagship platform, Archimedes, and support vertical integration to reduce supply chain risks and accelerate delivery. The company will also expand production capacity and broaden its platform offerings into new markets. Aurelius recently completed integration partnerships with American Rheinmetall and validated its systems at military operations. The company currently has 19 employees and expects to grow to over 40 by the end of 2026.
Aurelius Systems raises $40M in Series A funding. August 5, 2026 Aurelius Systems, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an autonomous directed-energy technology platform, raised $40M in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Draper Associates and KAS Venture Partners with participation from General Catalyst, Hanwha Defense USA, Outlander, Alumni Ventures, Bravo Victor Venture Capital (BVVC), Detroit Venture Partners, Decisive Point, and others. The company intends to use the funds to advance its flagship platform, Archimedes, through technical development, scale and expand operations and production, support vertical integration to reduce supply chain risk, strengthen long-term manufacturing resilience, accelerate delivery to customers, broaden platform offerings, and expand into new markets. Led by CEO and Co-founder Michael LaFramboise, Aurelius Systems develops AI-powered sensing and robotic, directed-energy platforms that autonomously acquire, detect, track, and neutralize aerial threats. Their Archimedes platform delivers autonomous counter-drone and defensive laser capabilities designed to protect troops, assets, and critical infrastructure. Don't just read the news. Own the data. Stop manually tracking deals. Access this round and over 100 others this week - in our structured Master Database (XML) + Weekly Intelligence PDF. [Access FinSMEs Intelligence Hub] 05/08/2026
Aurelius Systems and American Rheinmetall partner to advance autonomous counter-drone defense. 8 July 2026 Aurelius Systems announced a partnership with American Rheinmetall to accelerate the deployment of modern counter drone capabilities for robotic combat vehicles used to automate supply distribution and ensure critical supplies reach the tactical edge. The partnership brings together Aurelius' directed-energy platform, Archimedes, with American Rheinmetall's robotic combat vehicles to address one of the most urgent challenges in modern defense: mobile, cost-effective, scalable protection against multi-drone threats. "The battlefield demands mobility, autonomy, and resilience. By integrating autonomous directed-energy with robotic combat vehicles, we're delivering force-multiplying technologies that operate in the most dangerous environments, helping protect warfighters while enhancing mission effectiveness," said Michael LaFramboise, CEO of Aurelius Systems. "This partnership with American Rheinmetall supports a future where forces can sustain operations in contested environments, reduce warfighter risk, and maintain freedom of movement." "Aurelius brings fresh thinking and highly adaptable technology to one of the most urgent challenges on the battlefield. Their system integrates cleanly into our robotic platforms, enabling us to deliver mobile, autonomous counter-drone protection where it's needed most," said Chris Haag, VP of Business Development, American Rheinmetall. "We're excited to partner with a company that shares our commitment to advancing mission-critical capabilities for the Warfighter." Directed-energy counter-UAS systems offer precise engagement with multi-drone threats. They provide a compact, low-SWaP-C platform that reduces costs and logistical burden compared to traditional systems. This announcement builds upon Aurelius' successful demonstration at Technology Readiness Experimentation (T-REX) 26-2, where Archimedes validated its effectiveness as a counter-UAS solution.