Optical Scientist - DSR
Redmond, WAJob$184–257K/yrSeen 1mo agoSeen in employer's feed 1 day ago
Most applications go out cold — see where you stand first. No sign-up to start.
You apply on the employer's site, with no Olive account needed.
Watch jobs like this. New roles like this one near Redmond, WA, by email.
Don't just apply. Show up ready.
Olive works from this exact posting.
At a glance
Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.
Job overview
Meta Reality Labs’ Advanced Photonics group is hiring an Optical Scientist to advance nano-photonics research for wearable AR systems. The role focuses on conceptualizing, designing, building, and validating immersive display, sensing, and optical-compute components and architectures. The scientist will develop simulation, optimization, and validation methods and collaborate across scientific and engineering disciplines to advance future technologies and products.
Skills & qualifications
Skills
Qualifications
Full job description
Summary:
At Meta Reality Labs, we build world-class consumer virtual, augmented, and mixed reality experiences. You'll work alongside leading scientists and engineers on the technology that will make AR and VR pervasive — turning science fiction into products people use every day.The Advanced Photonics group within Display Systems Research (DSR) is hiring an Optical Scientist to push nano-photonics research toward wearable AR systems that enable advanced perceptual capabilities. In this role you will conceptualize, design, build, and validate immersive display, sensing, and optical-compute components and architectures. We're looking for someone with a first-principles understanding of nano-photonic devices — metastructures, optical computation, and visible/IR photonic integrated circuits — who is equally comfortable developing the simulation, optimization, and validation methods those devices demand, in a highly cross-functional and fast-moving environment.
Required Skills:
Optical Scientist - DSR Responsibilities:
-
Design and model component technologies and system architectures for near-eye display combiners, novel sensors, and optical compute
-
Advance our design methodologies and workflows, including strategic planning of new algorithms and expansion of simulation and optimization capabilities for future technologies and products
-
Partner with scientists and engineers across computation, optics, chemistry, materials science, process development, and integration to identify gaps and opportunities, and to build the design, modeling, and optimization tools that overcome current limitations
Minimum Qualifications:
Minimum Qualifications:
-
PhD degree or equivalent experience in the field of Optical Sciences, Physics, Electrical Engineering or a related field
-
8+ years experience in optical design using standard design software such as Lumerical, Virtual Lab, FRED, LightTools, Zemax, or CODE V
-
8+ years experience in scientific programming and data analysis tools (e.g. MATLAB, Python, C++, etc.)
-
8+ years experience with methods of light propagation both in wave and ray domains as well as mixed models and familiarity with local and global optimization algorithm development
-
Experience with wave optics, geometric optics, polarization, and coherence
-
8+ years experience with electromagnetic modeling and analysis of nanoscale structures, anisotropic materials, non-linear materials, switchable materials or holographic elements
-
8+ years of experience in fabrication and functional testing of novel photonic devices such as metastructures, photonic integrated circuits, holographic elements, diffractive, and refractive structures
Preferred Qualifications:
Preferred Qualifications:
-
10+ years of experience in optical metrology tools such as interferometry, image quality testing, etc
-
10+ years of experience in design, fabrication and testing of novel optical structures such as active or passive metastructures, holographic elements, sub-wavelength diffractive structures, beam steering elements, novel sensors, optical compute, etc
-
10+ years experience in using machine learning or deep neural networks for novel nano-optics design
-
10+ years experience in working with electromagnetic theory, modeling optical structures and building software tools for simulation work on distributed systems and parallel computing infrastructure
Public Compensation:
$184,000/year to $257,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits
Industry: Internet
Equal Opportunity:
Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.
Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected].
How this job compares
Set against the 434 open Optical Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 10, 2026.
- Pay
- This posting$184–257K/yr
- Washington median$127–185K/yr24 salary ranges
- US median$115–201K/yr384 salary ranges
This range's midpoint, $221K, is 38% above the Washington median midpoint ($160K) — in the top quarter of Optical Engineer salary ranges in Washington.
- Openings
- Olive Jobs lists 25 open Optical Engineer jobs in Washington and 434 across the US. Under 1% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
- Experience
- This posting asks for at least 8 years of experience — more than three in four Optical Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 377 postings).
- Education
- 264 of the 434 open Optical Engineer jobs (61%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.
Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 10, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.
Prepare for this role
You've read the whole posting — now see how you match it.

