Also called: Optical Design Engineer, Lens Design Engineer
Designs the stacks of lenses inside cameras, telescopes, microscopes and phone cameras.
You use special software to trace millions of light rays through a stack of seven tiny lenses for a phone camera. You tweak curves and glass types until the image is sharp from corner to corner, then check that a factory can actually make the shapes you drew.
Small field with high demand for experienced designers.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 6 years after high school. Master's in optical sciences or optical engineering is common; a few schools specialize (Rochester, Arizona, UCF).
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Optical Engineering, Optics & Photonics, Physics, Electrical Engineering.
Growing faster than average. Not tracked separately by BLS; photonics demand is growing with AI data centers, lidar and AR.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI-driven optimizers now generate lens designs much faster, so fewer designers per product; tolerancing and making designs buildable stay human.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Computer science, Art or photography.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.