Senior Mechanical Engineer, Photonic Systems - Palo Alto, California, United States
$130,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 9 June 2026 by the employer.
About the role
The Senior Mechanical Design Engineer is responsible for designing complex optomechanical and optoelectronic packages. You will collaborate across photonics, packaging, process, test, quality, and supply chain teams to translate architecture and requirements into buildable, manufacturable, and verifiable package designs.
What you'll do
- Own package and subassembly designs from prototype through production readiness. - Apply GD&T for precision optomechanical interfaces, datums, fixtures, and inspection plans, alongside tolerance analysis methods for optical alignment, mechanical stack-up, and FAU attach. - Create and maintain process flow documentation, build travelers, assembly sequence definitions, specification and drawing trees, and bill of materials (BOMs). - Conduct DFMEA, PFMEA, CTQ mapping, and risk analysis heat maps for package and process development. - Design and fabricate fixtures and test setups for optical, mechanical, thermal, metrology, handling, and process verification activities. - Execute structural, thermal, warpage, and tolerance analyses to down-select designs and manage revisions using PDM/Arena and ECO processes.
What you'll need
- Master’s Degree or above in Mechanical Engineering, Optomechanical Engineering, Packaging Engineering, or a relevant discipline. - 5 years of experience focusing on optomechanical design, optoelectronic packaging, photonics packaging, or precision mechanical systems. - Experience with subcontractor management, supplier technical coordination, and manufacturing partner support. - Demonstrated application of mechanics of materials, thermodynamics, electronics integration, optical alignment, and precision design principles. - Experience executing DFMEA, PFMEA, GD&T, tolerance analysis, and ECO revision control using PDM systems such as Arena.
This role has been open 135 days — well above the 51-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
1017
|
Median days open
51 d
|
Median salary
$154k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | PsiQuantum | All employers we track in this specialty (1017 roles · 102 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 17 | 1017 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 33 | 6298 · 144 employers |
| Median days open | 128 d | 51 d (+77 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $154k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 75 open roles · median 36 d
- KLA Corporation · 63 open roles · median 50 d
- Teradyne · 61 open roles · median 36 d
- NVIDIA · 51 open roles · median 68 d
- Applied Materials · 48 open roles · median 67 d
- AMD · 43 open roles · median 53 d
How we counted: 1017 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 102 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.