Exowatt is redefining energy for the AI era. Delivering clean, modular, and scalable power that meets the rising demand of AI infrastructure. Backed by a16z and Felicis.
About the role
Design and optimize non-imaging concentrating optics — Fresnel primaries and secondary optical elements — to maximize flux transfer, uniformity, and intercept factor rather than image quality. Build an optical error budget that rolls slope error, tracking error, and alignment tolerances into an intercept-factor model, and validate it against hardware.
What they're looking for
- Education & foundation
- Master's or PhD in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline, with a minimum of 3 years of industry experience, or equivalent work experience
- Hands-on experience with optical systems in a lab environment, including assembly, alignment, integration, and testing
- Core non-imaging design competencies
- Fluency in the language of concentration limits — étendue conservation, geometric concentration ratio, acceptance angle, and the concentration-acceptance product (CAP)
- Command of the edge-ray principle and tailored-optics design, optimizing for flux transfer over image quality, familiarity with Winston/Miñano/Benítez methods or simultaneous multiple surface (SMS) design is a strong plus
More about this role
Exowatt is revolutionizing the energy landscape for the AI era with our groundbreaking P3 system that captures solar energy, stores it as heat, and generates electricity on demand. Founded in 2023 and backed by leading investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, and Felicis, we're committed to providing clean, modular, and scalable power that meets the rapidly growing demands of AI infrastructure. Our mission is to make sustainable renewable energy always available and almost free, enabling technological advancement while protecting our planet.
We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Lead Optical Engineer to own concentrator design, optical testing, and model validation for the P3. In this role, you will design and optimize non-imaging optics for maximum flux transfer, build and automate optical test setups, validate models against on-sun performance, and work across the optic-to-thermal boundary that defines the P3 architecture. You will collaborate closely with the Optical Product Development, R&D, and thermal teams to ensure alignment between design intent, test outcomes, and delivered system performance.
Non-imaging concentrating optics experience is required...
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