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Optical design engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical optical design engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for optical design engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 15.6% of optical design engineer resumes contained optical design as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an optical design engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 optical design engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Optical Design

Here's how optical design engineers use optical design:

Lead optical design efforts for a 14.5x MWIR Zoom lens.
Updated corrupted SONET and Optical designs.

2. MATLAB

Here's how optical design engineers use matlab:

Calculated electrical requirements using MATLAB, and determined the best material and manufacturing processes.
Developed unique engineering solutions and user-friendly computational tools using MATLAB.

3. Zemax

Here's how optical design engineers use zemax:

Designed and Simulating refractive and diffractive lens systems under the design rules of wafer-level technologies by using Zemax.
Designed and implemented system modifications to improve optical performance using ZEMAX.

4. Optical Systems

Here's how optical design engineers use optical systems:

Support of all phases of optical engineering: design, analysis, manufacture and testing of optical systems.
Led a team in designing optical systems for high brightness video projectors.

5. Light Analysis

Here's how optical design engineers use light analysis:

Performed radiometric modeling, stray light analysis, and system optimization to improve the sensitivity and environmental stability.
Stray light analysis using non-sequential Opto-Mechanical software FRED to determine source of stray light and solution path for high signal-to-noise designs.

6. DOD

Definition of Done (DoD) is a set of deliverables that are needed to devise software. These deliverables are valuable to the system and can be exemplified by writing code, coding comments, unit testing, integration testing, design documents, release notes, and so on.

Here's how optical design engineers use dod:

Expedite repair to unit to ensure quality and quantity are delivered to the DoD customer.
Supervised field tests assessing Department of Defense (DoD) spectrum utilization and interferenceconcerns, supported T-Mobile regulatory team in CRADA.

7. Laser

The laser is a device that stimulates atoms to produce light and then directs it into a narrow path producing an intense beam of light.

Here's how optical design engineers use laser:

Designed commercial laser scanners and holographic recording materials.
Designed and detailed laser optical precision diagnostics sub-systems.

8. Optical Components

An optical component is a simple optical element used in the construction of optical systems to change the state of light by several means including, filtering, focusing, polarization, or reflection, and used as a critical component in larger systems for measuring, analyzing, structuring and processing precisely with the use of light and with little light loss.

Here's how optical design engineers use optical components:

Reduced the optical aberrations and optimization of the image system, lens fabrication and measurement, optical component characterization.
Selected and tested optical components to achieve cost-effective module.

9. Solidworks

Here's how optical design engineers use solidworks:

Designed and detailed lens housing components and determined lens mechanical envelope using SolidWorks.
Fabricated aluminum motor casing and carbon nozzle in machine shop based on structural analysis from SolidWorks and ANSYS models.

10. System Design

System design refers to the electronic structural component of a system.

Here's how optical design engineers use system design:

Played a major role in ultra long reach (ULR) 10 Gbps system design & development project.
Created new buoy anchoring system design and installation procedure for surface-penetrating buoy structure used in Navy shipboard equipment calibration procedures.

11. Asap

Here's how optical design engineers use asap:

Hired for non-existent stray light work and stayed busy teaching ASAP usage and modeling baffles.
Stray light analysis (APART & ASAP) including baffle design and contamination calculations.

12. Design Reviews

A dеѕіgn review іѕ a mіlеѕtоnе wіthіn a рrоduсt dеvеlорmеnt рrосеѕѕ іn whісh a design іѕ evaluated bаѕеd on іtѕ rеԛuіrеmеntѕ. Thе рurроѕе of dеѕіgn rеvіеwѕ іѕ tо examine thе overall design or a ѕресіfіс аѕресt оf a dеѕіgn аt еасh ѕtаgе of the development оf a nеw оr еxіѕtіng рrоduсt.

Here's how optical design engineers use design reviews:

Provided technical direction to cross-functional team as well as product design reviews to aid collaboration between engineering and manufacturing functions.
Communicated with lead engineer regarding obstacles on project along with updates on progress and participated in Design Reviews with manufacturing.

13. IR

Optics is a branch of physics that encapsulates everything about the science of light. Infrared, also called infrared light, is electromagnetic energy with wavelengths longer than visible light. Therefore, it is invisible to the naked human eye. IR is generally encompassing wavelengths from the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum around 700 nanometers, to 1 millimetre. Infrared (IR) optical fibres may be defined as fibre optics that transmit radiation.

Here's how optical design engineers use ir:

Designed wavelength selector/locker for IR laser wavelength tuning.
Ray traced optical systems with multiple mirrors and diffraction gratings for X-Rays, VUV, Visible and IR spectrum.

14. Fiber Optic

Fiber optic is a technology used for the super-fast transmission of information as pulses of light over long distances. It is achieved to optical fiber wires, which are almost as thin as human hair and is made from glass or plastic. Fiber optic technology is generally used for providing super-fast internet and mobile networking services.

Here's how optical design engineers use fiber optic:

Developed engineering specifications and design verification procedures for various types of fiber optic electronics and fiber optic systems.
Designed and developed custom fiber optic components generating $3M in new revenue over next 5 years.

15. Prototyping

Here's how optical design engineers use prototyping:

Design and prototyping of pico-projectors for embedded applications with 7mm thickness and lower.
Monitored the latest innovations related to product development, including new component technologies, materials, manufacturing and prototyping processes.

What skills help Optical Design Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

List of optical design engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for an optical design engineer resume and required skills for an optical design engineer to have include:

Optical Design
MATLAB
Zemax
Optical Systems
Light Analysis
DOD
Laser
Optical Components
Solidworks
System Design
Asap

Design Reviews
IR
Fiber Optic
Prototyping
Lens Design
MTF
CMOS
Simulation Software
FEA
UV
Spectrometers

GIS
Telecommunication
Projection
OSP
BOM
Auto CAD
EVT
Broadband
Circuit Design
IC
DLP

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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