Know Your Worth / Optical & photonics
Optical careers connect eye care and eyewear with the science and engineering of light. Clinical qualifications, product accuracy, laboratory access, measurement uncertainty, and component tolerances shape different routes into this sector, so compare the actual duties and practice requirements.
1–30 of 30 careers · 1,000 in the directory
All careersEmployee references are annual US median wages for the cited BLS occupation, which may cover several career paths. Freelance examples add $15,000 for benefits and $20,000 for business costs, then divide by 1,200 billable hours a year. Annual figures are rounded to the nearest $1,000 and hourly figures to the nearest dollar. Figures are before personal taxes, with no percentage fees. Open a guide to see the source or adjust the assumptions in the calculator.
BLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Combine image formation models and numerical methods to recover useful information from measurements. Evaluate reconstruction quality against realistic noise and calibration errors rather than attractive example images alone.
View career → Computational Imaging EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Opticians, Dispensing
Help customers obtain correctly specified eyewear by combining fitting measurements, frame and lens knowledge, order accuracy, and clear communication with the prescribing eye-care professional.
View career → Dispensing OpticianBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Integrate optical sensing with electronics and software in a coherent instrument. Maintain interface requirements and verification plans so performance can be evaluated across the complete sensing chain.
View career → Electro-Optical Systems EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Translate communication capacity and route constraints into an optical network plan. Compare span losses, connection points, maintenance access, and resilience choices before physical installation or service migration begins.
View career → Fiber Network Optical PlannerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Plan optical links that transmit information within a defined loss and reliability budget. Connect component choices, installation constraints, and measurement evidence to the required communication performance.
View career → Fiber Optic EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Design light distributions for products, inspection stations, or built environments. Balance useful illumination, glare, energy use, and manufacturability while documenting assumptions about surfaces and operating conditions.
View career → Illumination EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Translate an imaging use case into requirements for lenses, sensors, processing, and illumination. Evaluate the complete chain rather than choosing components from isolated headline specifications.
View career → Imaging Systems EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Physicists
Help organizations document and review laser-related exposure controls under applicable requirements. Coordinate qualified assessments, training records, and operating procedures without treating a checklist as evidence that all hazards are controlled.
View career → Laser Safety SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Develop specifications and integration plans for laser-based instruments. Coordinate optical, electrical, mechanical, and safety requirements so the instrument can be tested against a clear purpose.
View career → Laser Systems EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Improve the repeatability of lens production while maintaining required optical performance. Examine process variation, inspection feedback, yield, and documentation rather than treating every rejected part as an isolated event.
View career → Lens Manufacturing Process EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Choose imaging geometry and illumination that make an inspection task feasible. Establish observable defect examples and practical image criteria before a team commits to complex recognition software.
View career → Machine Vision Optics SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other
Establish and document the relationship between an optical instrument's readings and a suitable reference. Track environmental effects and uncertainty so results can be interpreted within defined measurement limits.
View career → Optical Calibration SpecialistBLS · May 2025 · Materials Scientists
Develop and evaluate thin-film coating specifications for optical surfaces. Connect transmission, reflection, durability, and process variation to a product's wavelength range and operating environment.
View career → Optical Coatings EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Design lens assemblies that balance image quality, package size, and manufacturing tolerances. Explain why a proposed optical layout meets the intended application.
View career → Optical Design EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Support installation and troubleshooting of optical instruments at customer sites. Coordinate readiness checks, training, and documented performance tests so technical handover has clearer evidence than a successful power-on.
View career → Optical Instrumentation Field EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Materials Scientists
Study materials whose optical properties matter to an instrument or product. Connect composition, structure, wavelength-dependent behavior, and environmental stability to evidence that can support a material selection decision.
View career → Optical Materials ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Develop measurement methods that reveal whether optical parts meet specifications. Account for alignment, calibration, repeatability, and uncertainty so inspection results support an appropriate acceptance decision.
View career → Optical Metrology EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Develop sensing concepts that convert changes in light into useful measurements. Connect optical geometry, detector behavior, environmental effects, and calibration to the physical quantity a customer needs.
View career → Optical Sensor EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Electrical Engineers
Help customers judge whether an optical component or instrument fits their application. Clarify specifications, arrange credible demonstrations, and document limits instead of substituting an impressive demonstration for verified customer suitability.
View career → Optical Technical Sales EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Create repeatable tests for optical instruments and assemblies. Design fixtures, measurement sequences, and reports that reveal meaningful failures while accounting for setup errors and changing laboratory conditions.
View career → Optical Test EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Translate a customer's measurement problem into a practical optics evaluation plan. Connect sample behavior, instrument capabilities, and integration constraints while documenting what a prototype demonstration does and does not establish.
View career → Optics Applications EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Industrial Engineers
Investigate how optical performance changes over use and environmental exposure. Connect failure evidence, sample limitations, and test conditions to practical improvements in component selection and product verification.
View career → Optics Reliability EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Mechanical Engineers
Design the mechanical structures that position and protect optical components. Account for alignment, thermal movement, assembly access, and tolerances so a working optical layout remains usable in practice.
View career → Optomechanical EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Optometrists
Provide licensed eye examinations and ongoing vision care, combining clinical judgment, patient communication, accurate records, and coordination with other qualified eye-care professionals.
View career → OptometristBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Design and verify light-guiding components integrated on a chip. Work with process constraints, layout rules, and simulation evidence to connect device behavior with a manufacturable circuit concept.
View career → Photonic Integrated Circuit EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Engineers, All Other
Improve fabrication or assembly processes used in photonic devices. Use process measurements and controlled trials to understand yield losses while respecting equipment constraints and material handling requirements.
View career → Photonics Process EngineerBLS · May 2025 · Management analysts
Shape photonics products around customer measurement or integration problems. Translate application evidence into requirements, roadmap choices, and launch decisions that reflect manufacturing constraints as well as research possibilities.
View career → Photonics Product ManagerBLS · May 2025 · Physicists
Investigate how light interacts with devices and materials. Build reproducible experiments and separate a promising laboratory result from a claim about practical performance.
View career → Photonics Research ScientistBLS · May 2025 · Technical writers
Explain photonic instruments and processes so readers can install, operate, or integrate them appropriately. Coordinate terminology, diagrams, and qualified reviews for technical limits that must not disappear during simplification.
View career → Photonics Technical WriterBLS · May 2025 · Chemists
Help users determine whether a spectroscopic method can answer a material or process question. Evaluate sample preparation, interference, calibration, and interpretation limits before proposing an analytical workflow.
View career → Spectroscopy Applications Scientist