Optical Engineer | PPG Aerospace

Oct. 4, 2023

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JOB FUNCTION – REQUIREMENTS - SUCCESS FACTORS.  
POSITION SUMMARY:   
PPG aerospace is one of the leading manufacturers of transparency articles for military, commercial, general aviation, regional, and specialty products. Innovation and continuous improvements have made PPG to be one of the front runners of the transparency business. PPG thrives to provide the best and safest products to the customer since 1927 with a stellar record of zero fatal casualty throughout its history.  
PPG develops and fabricate highly complex transparency articles most of which are composites made of various substrates, and coating layers. Optics is one of the critical design aspects for transparency articles, flight-deck windows and canopies. Properties such as material properties, internal stresses, geometrical components, and topological defects and disturbances will highly impact the performance of the window such as light absorption, light deviation and binocular vergence. The interaction of the optical performance of the transparency with heads-up displays, defines the accuracy of the received optical information through the transparency. The optics engineer will contribute to the design, development, implementation and troubleshoot of optical systems and evaluation set-ups for aerospace applications. Fundamental knowledge of optical physics, static and dynamic imaging systems, software development, and familiarity with optical design Software are necessary. Techniques and tools such as high-resolution imaging, 3D laser scanning, evaluation of surface defects , and computer simulation using ray-tracing software will be applied.  

EDUCATION/TRAINING: Bachelor or Master’s degree in Optical Science or Engineering (Master’s degree is preferred) with familiarity with ray tracing software.  

EXPERIENCE and RESPONSIBILITIES:
a) Fluency and experience in one optical simulation software preferably Zemax (Ansys), Code V, or Fred.
b) Conducting research and development to improve existing aerospace transparency systems, materials, and
manufacturing processes.
c) Create, modify and improve on imaging systems.
d) Contribute to development of advanced optical systems for various applications such as imaging, sensing,
communication, and navigation.
e) Integrated design and/or process improvement through cross-functional collaboration with tooling,
mechanical engineers, material scientists and manufacturing specialists.
f) Performing optical simulation, modeling, and testing to evaluate and validate the performance of the optical
systems under various operating conditions.
g) Identifying and resolving optical issues such as distortion, lensing, or light deviation that impacts the optical
visibility of the transparent articles.
h) Develop improved methods to identify and inspect the optical performance of the transparency element.
i) Systematic data gathering and data analysis for method development and optical system evaluation.

Contact PPG Aerospace Recruiter, Noel Hernandez, with interest.