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# Optical Payload Architect

- **Company:** Aerospacelab
- **Location:** Luik, Belgium
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Systems Engineering, Python (Programming Language), MATLAB, Zemax
- **Published:** October 27, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.space-careers.com/job_display/298237/Optical_Payload_Architect_Aerospacelab_Lige_Belgium

## About the Role

* Master or PhD in Physics, Aerospace, Optical or Electromechanical Engineering;
 * At least 10 years in space optical instruments, including the definition phases of at least one instrument;
 * Strong opto-mechanical design background: mirror substrates (SiC, Zerodur, ULE), lightweighting, isostatic mounts and flexures, bonding, CFRP or Invar structures;
 * You know how a mount, a material or a thermal gradient turns into wavefront error and line-of-sight drift;
 * You identify the design driver before the analyses confirm it;
 * Experience with Very High Resolution (VHR) Earth observation instruments is a strong asset;
 * You are comfortable with incomplete data: orders of magnitude, sensitivity, margins;
 * Familiar with system engineering practices and ECSS standards;
 * Good knowledge of Matlab/Python and Zemax/OpticStudio;
 * You design what can be built, aligned and tested;
 * You explain and defend a technical choice in front of customers and management;
 * Rigorous, reliable, good writing skills;
 * Curious, team player, a natural technical reference;
 * Fluent in English. French is an asset.

Soft skills: Autonomous/Rigorous/Proactive/Flexible/Result-oriented.

## Description

As an Optical Payload Architect, you define the architecture of our Very High Resolution (VHR) optical payloads. You are the technical authority on their design. Opto-mechanics is the core of the job: mounts,materials, athermalization, dimensional stability. You will be part of the VHR payload team. You will be responsible for:

 * Defining the payload architecture: telescope configuration, mirror substrates and lightweighting, mounts, metering structure, thermal design, focal plane;
 * Defining the opto-mechanical design principles: isostatic mounts and flexures, athermalization, dimensional stability under launch, thermal and gravity-release loads, alignment philosophy;
 * Exploring the design space in phase 0/A/B. Formalizing the trade-offs. Justifying the selected concept;
 * Translating the mission needs - ground sampling distance, swath, spectral bands, revisit - into payload requirements and first-order budgets;
 * Establishing the preliminary budgets: MTF, wavefront error, line-of-sight stability, radiometry, straylight. Supported by first-order STOP analyses;
 * Checking the concept against the platform: mass, power, volume, thermal, pointing, data rate;
 * Acting as design authority during development. Arbitrating the architectural changes. Supporting the team of payload engineers composed of various engineering disciplines;
 * Leading the technical content of the proposals. Defending the architecture against customer needs;
 * Capitalizing the design rules and lessons learned. Mentoring the engineers from the payload team.