Neural AI
Directed Energy Engineer
1
Which company are you aiming at?
To generate precise rejection-prevention feedback and application strategy, tell us where you're targeting.
RTX
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman
Anduril
General Dynamics
BAE Systems
2
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The job description
Tech stack. high-energy lasers, beam control, adaptive optics, thermal management, power conditioning, high-power microwave sources, optical modeling, MATLAB
About the role
You will join a defense technology company building weapons that engage at the speed of light, where power, precision, and thermal discipline decide everything. The directed energy team develops high-energy laser and high-power microwave systems, spanning sources, beam control, power conditioning, and effects on target. Your engineering decides whether energy on target translates into mission outcomes, proven through modeling, lab demonstration, and field testing against realistic targets.
What you will achieve
- Design a beam control subsystem that holds pointing stability within the budget needed to keep fluence on a maneuvering aimpoint.
- Build thermal management for a laser or microwave source that sustains required duty cycles without derating performance.
- Deliver power conditioning designs that feed pulsed or continuous high-power loads with efficiency above 85 percent end to end.
- Demonstrate atmospheric compensation with adaptive optics that recovers at least half the Strehl lost to turbulence in field conditions.
- Produce effects analyses linking delivered energy to target damage, with test data validating the model within expected bands.
- Demonstrate a complete directed energy engagement chain, from acquisition and tracking through lasing, with measured effects on a representative target.
What you will bring
Must-haves
- You bring 2 to 5 years of experience in directed energy, lasers, high-power RF, or precision optical systems.
- You understand laser or microwave source physics well enough to design around their real limitations.
- You have designed beam control, pointing, or tracking subsystems with quantified error budgets.
- You grasp thermal management for high-power systems: heat loads, cooling architectures, and transient behavior.
- You can model optical propagation, including turbulence effects and compensation approaches.
- You work safely around high-power lasers, high voltage, or high-power RF, respecting the hazards involved.
- You have built error budgets for pointing, tracking, or beam quality that connect component specs to system performance.
Nice-to-haves
- You have built or tested adaptive optics systems in the lab or field.
- You bring power electronics experience for pulsed power applications.
- You have supported directed energy field demonstrations or effects testing.
- You are eligible for a U.S. security clearance.
- You bring experience with laser safety calculations and hazard analysis for high-energy systems.