Job Description

Salary:

Manufacturing Engineer

Airborne Imaging Systems

Burlington ON

**Please note that to be considered for any position at PV Labs, all candidates must be eligible to meet the requirements of the Canadian Controlled-Goods Program of the Defense Production Act, and be able to hold and maintain a Canadian Security Clearance. If you are not clear about your eligibility, please consult the Government of Canada website HERE**

About the Role

At PVLabs, manufacturing engineering is not an afterthoughtit is the connective tissue between invention and impact. Our systems dont come to life through design alone; they become real when they can be built, tested, repeated, and trusted under the constraints of the real world. In Christensens language, this role sits at the moment where the theory of a product meets the jobs it must actually perform. In Broses framing, this is where fragile prototypes evolve into operationally credible systems that must perform under pressure.

We are seeking a Manufacturing Engineer with the mindset of a systems thinker and the instincts of a buildersomeone who sees how mechanical, electrical, optical, and software elements converge into a manufacturable, serviceable, field-credible product. This role demands fluency in Design for Manufacturability (DFM) across complex opto-mechanical architectures and the ability to work within a highly regulated Defence and Controlled Goods environment

This is not a traditional ME role confined to process documentation. It is a craft role, a connective-tissue role, a role that shapes how optics concepts become stabilized, repeatable production realities. You will work at the seamswhere decisions matter, where early constraints avoid downstream risks, and where learning cycles shorten the distance between prototype and production.

About the Responsibilities

The effectiveness of this role and its focus will tie to our current-state and our future-state as our next-generation product designs mature and we move forward towards product build schedules that are rapidly approaching.

Starting now:

Your early impact will come from working upstreamhelping our engineering teams converge on manufacturable designs, shaping early builds, and defining the processes that allow prototypes to behave like products. This means shaping optic-handling standards, co-designing test methods, defining assembly flows, and ensuring we understand not just how something will be built but why each step creates stability, repeatability, and quality.

At 3 months in:

You will begin mapping the optical manufacturing environment that our next-generation systems requirecapacity modelling, equipment definition, optical alignment stations, assembly requirements, and 3P analysis that aligns our space to our purpose. You will also help codify our processes for partners across the globe, ensuring that PVLabs standards for precision, alignment, and optical performance can be replicated reliably.

At 6 months and onward:

You will support both prototype and production builds, validate processes, train technicians, and help transfer manufacturing knowledge into customer programs. Your role becomes the steward of manufacturabilityensuring our products survive contact with the real world and that our manufacturing ecosystem supports speed, quality, and resilience.

About the Details

Responsible for the selection, installation, qualification (IQ/OQ/PQ), test method validation, and sustaining support of tooling and equipment utilized in Manufacturing.
Support new product manufacturability by conducting research, feasibility testing, and process validation.
Support engineering prototype builds within the product development process.
Develop, document, and optimize assembly and alignment processes for precision optical subassemblies, including lenses, optical benches, image sensors, and stabilized optical payload interfaces.
Define handling, cleaning, ESD, and contamination-control procedures for sensitive optical components in accordance with industry standards.
Establish optical test and validation workflows, including interferometry, MTF testing, boresight verification, focus/zoom calibration, and line-of-sight stability measurements.
Work closely with Optical Engineering to translate optical design intent into manufacturable assembly steps, tolerances, and inspection checkpoints.
Define requirements for optical alignment fixtures, collimators, laser alignment tools, optical benches, and clean-area workstations.
Develop process flows that integrate optical alignment with mechanical build stages to ensure stability through environmental testing (thermal, vibe, HALT/HASS).
Support root-cause analysis for optical performance deviations, including contamination, misalignment, tolerance stack-up, and assembly-induced stress.
Partner with Supply Chain to assess and qualify optical suppliers (coatings, lenses, prisms, windows, blocks, sensor modules), ensuring compliance with PVLabs image-chain performance thresholds.
Train technicians on precision optical assembly, contamination control, alignment techniques, and in-process optical testing.

Key Requirements

Minimum of Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) either Optics or Physics
5+ years of direct and relevant experience in a control-systems or opto-mechanical based Manufacturing, Testing, or Process Engineering environment.
Hands-on experience assembling, aligning, or validating optical or opto-mechanical systems (e.g., imaging systems, stabilized gimbals, lenses, sensor blocks, laser subsystems).
Strong understanding of optical principles including alignment, collimation, boresight, MTF, optical aberrations, and tolerance stack analysis.
Experience working with optical metrology tools such as interferometers, autocollimators, collimators, laser alignment systems, and optical benches.
Familiarity with optical adhesives, curing processes, cleanliness standards, and particulate/surface contamination control.
Demonstrated ability to interpret optical drawings, Zemax/Code V outputs (viewing only is fine), and opto-mechanical tolerance specifications.
Experience supporting environmental qualification of optical assemblies (vibe, shock, thermal cycling) and understanding how mechanical stresses affect optical performance.
Experience working in cleanroom or controlled-environment assembly areas (ISO Class 7/8 equivalent or higher).
Experience designing or refining processes for handling and assembling coated optics, sensor assemblies, fiber-optic components, or precision-ground glass components.

Key Nicetohavements.

Experience in aerospace, defence, medical imaging, photonics, camera manufacturing, or laser systems manufacturing.
Experience developing tooling and fixtures for optical alignment or stability during assembly.
Exposure to sensor-level testing (SNR characterization, pixel defects, calibration procedures).
Experience with encapsulation, optical bonding, or sensor-to-lens package alignment processes.

About You as a Manufacturing Engineer

You believe that manufacturability is a design choice made every daynot a final phase. You see ambiguity as an opportunity to design better systems. You find purpose in helping multidisciplinary teams make better decisions. You thrive in environments where complexity demands clarity, where small details determine large outcomes, and where the physical act of making something is as intellectually challenging as designing it.

You are joining a team where Manufacturing Engineering is not a downstream checkpoint but a core design function. You will contribute to standards, influence system architecture, shape our optics assembly capability, and help ensure every PVLabs product reflects our belief that everything matters.

Whats in It for You?

PVLabs is where Manufacturing Engineering becomes a force multiplier. We move fast, build things that fly, and dont do egowe do execution. Youll work at the intersection of great ideas and real-world constraints, helping turn precision optical and electro-mechanical designs into systems customers trust.

We run on autonomy, mastery, and purposewith a year-round 4-day work week and performance over presence. Youll join sharp, motivated people solving hard problems in stabilization, optics, motion control, and imaging tech. If you want to build what others cant, this is where youll do your best work.

PV Labs

Open Positions

Manufacturing Engineering Lead - Optics