Associate/Senior Optical Engineer, R&D

A Bit About Us

We are Arcadia Science, an evolutionary biology company founded and led by scientists. Our mission is to turn natural innovations into real-world solutions by developing systematic and quantitative approaches to leveraging biology for therapeutics R&D. We share our research as openly as possible to accelerate discovery and make our work broadly useful.

The Opportunity

We are hiring an Optical Engineer at the Associate or Senior level to join Arcadia's research team. This is a role for an optical scientist with a demonstrated aptitude for developing novel measurement techniques: someone who can identify the limits of existing optical tools and invent new ones to address them.

Optical instrumentation is central to how we study living systems. Our current work spans spontaneous Raman spectroscopy, coherent Raman imaging (SRS and CARS), and live-cell microscopy of diverse organisms. We bias toward label-free modalities that allow us to work across a wider range of organisms and generate data that is more readily comparable across biological systems. We invent tools with affordability and usability in mind to enable greater adoption and impact. 

The Optical Engineer will be on the research team, contributing directly to the scientific program by innovating on optical approaches. They will also collaborate with the product development team to help transform new technologies into professionalized tools that can be deployed more broadly. Therefore, the Optical Engineer should be excited and able to approach their inventions with scalability as a design consideration from the outset.

What You'll Do

Assess Arcadia's current optical capabilities in the context of our active research program and identify opportunities for new or improved approaches.

Design, build, and characterize new optical systems, working across hardware, acquisition software, and data analysis as needed.

Collaborate closely with Arcadia’s research scientists or external partners to understand experimental requirements and translate them into instrumentation solutions.

Contribute to computational and analytical pipelines for spectral and imaging data, including signal processing and ML-based approaches where relevant.

Create open source protocols and designs.

Required

PhD in optical engineering, physics, applied physics, or a closely related field.

At least 2 years experience in an industrial or start-up environment.

Hands-on experience designing and building optical systems.

Demonstrated aptitude for developing novel optical techniques or instrumentation.

Proficiency writing code for instrument control, data acquisition, or quantitative analysis.

Ability to work independently and communicate technical findings clearly to a scientific audience.

Preferred

Experience with Raman spectroscopy (spontaneous, SRS, and/or CARS) or other label-free imaging modalities.

Experience doing research as a post-doctoral fellow

Familiarity with fluorescence microscopy and the practical challenges of preparing and imaging live biological samples.

Experience with spectral or image analysis, including signal processing or machine learning methods.

History of open science contributions, including published code, open instrument designs, or non-traditional publication formats.

Associate vs. Senior

We are open to candidates at two levels, based on experience. 

Associate Optical Engineer, $150–200K

Strong research record, typically through a PhD and postdoctoral or early industry experience.

Demonstrated technical creativity in optical instrumentation

Can immediately contribute to research directions.

Senior Optical Engineer, $200–275K

Substantive track record of independent, innovative contributions to optical technique development.

Experience independently defining and executing strategic research directions.

Experience managing a small technical team.

Both levels include benefits and a highly competitive equity offering.

The position will require the individual to be on-site at our Emeryville, California headquarters.