Engineering with light: lenses, lasers, fiber-optic internet, camera sensors, lidar and the displays inside AR glasses.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Optical Lens Designer: Designs the stacks of lenses inside cameras, telescopes, microscopes and phone cameras. Typical pay $135k.
Laser Physicist: Invents and studies new kinds of lasers, from ultra-short pulses to powerful lasers for fusion or defense. Typical pay $140k.
Silicon Photonics Engineer: Designs computer chips that move data with light instead of electricity, used in AI data centers. Typical pay $150k.
AR/VR Display Optics Engineer: Designs the see-through optics in smart glasses and VR headsets that put digital images in front of your eyes. Typical pay $155k.
Optical Engineer: Designs and tests systems that use light: cameras, lasers, sensors, fiber optics and imaging equipment. Typical pay $110k.
Lidar Systems Engineer: Designs laser scanners that let self-driving cars, robots and drones measure the world in 3D. Typical pay $120k.
Camera Imaging Engineer: Makes phone, car and security cameras take better pictures by tuning sensors, lenses and image software. Typical pay $120k.
Optomechanical Engineer: Designs the mounts and structures that hold lenses and mirrors perfectly still, even in space or on a bumpy truck. Typical pay $110k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Laser Engineer: Builds and improves industrial and medical laser systems that cut metal, weld, mark parts or treat patients. Typical pay $105k.
Fiber Optics Engineer: Designs the glass-fiber networks that carry internet traffic across towns, oceans and data centers. Typical pay $100k.
Optical Coating Engineer: Designs the ultra-thin layers on lenses, mirrors and screens that stop glare or reflect exactly the right colors. Typical pay $100k.
Photonics Technician: Builds, aligns and tests optical and laser systems for engineers and scientists. Typical pay $60k.
Laser Technician: Installs, maintains and repairs lasers in factories, hospitals and labs. Typical pay $62k.
Fiber Optic Splicing Technician: Fuses hair-thin glass fibers together to build and repair internet and phone networks. Typical pay $60k.
Fiber-Optic Sensing (DAS) Engineer: Turns ordinary fiber-optic cables into miles of microphones and thermometers that "hear" leaks, trains, earthquakes and intruders. Typical pay $108k.
Starter: fastest way in
Precision Optics Fabricator: Grinds and polishes glass and crystal lenses and mirrors to almost perfect shapes. Typical pay $50k.
Laser Cleaning Technician: Uses handheld lasers to blast away rust, paint and grime from metal, molds and even historic statues without chemicals. Typical pay $50k.
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.