Manufacturing Engineer- Optical Systems & Sustaining Engineer
IDEX · West Henrietta, NY
- Level
- Engineer
- Team
- Manufacturing
- Base pay
- $78k–$117k
- Degree
- Required
- Experience asked
- 5+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- 14 days ago
The role in 30 seconds
An engineer-level manufacturing role at IDEX (industrial) in West Henrietta, NY. You will be responsible for leading the development, optimization, and sustaining manufacturing processes for optical products and systems.
- They ask for
- 5+ years · degree required
- Tools it names
- Lean, Value stream mapping, Root cause, CAPA, Automation, Tooling
- Base pay
- $78k–$117k
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At a glance
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Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Manufacturing team at IDEX
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- 2
Send a short, curious note
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- 3
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Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Is the work mostly new product launches or sustaining existing lines?
- How much time do you spend on the floor versus at a desk?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
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- 5
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About the role
About the Role
Join a team of passionate engineers dedicated to delivering next-generation healthcare technology with exceptional quality, performance, and cost-effectiveness. As part of the Manufacturing Engineering organization, you will play a critical role in transferring advanced optical technologies from concept and prototype into scalable, high-quality production environments.
This highly visible position offers the opportunity to collaborate with cross-functional teams including R&D, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Production. You will leverage your technical expertise, creativity, and problem-solving skills to develop manufacturing processes, support new product introductions for successful launches, and optimize existing production systems.
Mission
The Manufacturing Engineer – Optical Systems & Sustaining Engineering serves as a key technical resource for optical and laser-based manufacturing technologies. This role supports both New Product Introduction (NPI) and sustaining engineering activities, contributing to the development, deployment, and continual improvement of optical systems, laser illumination
systems, and precision opto-mechanical assemblies.
The engineer will provide technical leadership in manufacturing readiness, process development, production support, troubleshooting, and workforce training while serving as a mentor and consultant to technicians and manufacturing personnel.
Position Summary
As a member of the Manufacturing Engineering team, you will be responsible for leading the development, optimization, and sustaining manufacturing processes for optical products and systems. The successful candidate will possess strong technical knowledge in one of the following: optics, lasers, or optical assemblies. A key element is an emphasis on precision
manufacturing while demonstrating the ability to rapidly learn new technologies and effectively lead the transition into
production.
This role supports multiple active product development programs and existing production lines, ensuring successful product launches, operational excellence, and continuous improvement across the manufacturing value stream.
All members of the Manufacturing Engineering team are expected to embody the company's values of Team, Trust, and Excellence.
Required Qualifications
- ✓Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Optics, Optical Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- ✓Minimum 5 years of manufacturing engineering experience maintaining existing products and scaling up production throughput.
- ✓Experience leading the transfer of technology from development into manufacturing.
- ✓Experience developing manufacturing processes, documentation, and training programs.
- ✓Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- ✓Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- ✓Ability to lead projects and manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
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If you’re looking for a special place to build or grow your career, you’ve found it. Whether you’re an experienced professional, a recent college graduate or somewhere in between, IDEX is a place where you can apply your existing skills and learn new ones in an environment where you can make an impact.
With interesting opportunities in engineering, marketing, sales, supply chain, operations, HR, finance, and more across more than 40 diverse businesses around the globe, chances are, we have something special for you.
Manufacturing Engineer – Optical Systems & Sustaining Engineering
Itar/ear criteria
Certain positions with IDEX Corporation and its business units require access to controlled goods and technologies subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or the Export Administration Regulations. Applicants for these positions may need to be "U.S. Persons," as defined in these regulations. Generally, a "U.S. Person" is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or an individual who has been granted refugee or asylum status.
New Product Introduction & Manufacturing Readiness
- •Lead the transition of new optical and laser-based products into manufacturing.
- •Implement robust manufacturing processes, work instructions, test methods, and training.
- •Collaborate with R&D teams during product development to ensure manufacturability and production scalability.
- •Support stage-gate development activities and manufacturing readiness reviews.
- •Support qualification & validate manufacturing process and test stations prior to release.
Optical Systems Engineering
- •Align and optimize optical tabletop systems and production optical assemblies.
- •Support optical system integration, metrology, testing, and performance verification.
- •Apply knowledge of optical principles, system tolerancing, and opto-mechanical integration.
- •Support laser illumination systems, optical alignment techniques, and detector-based measurements.
- •Develop fixtures, tooling, and automation to improve manufacturing efficiency and quality.
Sustaining Engineering
- •Support existing products through continuous improvement, cost reduction, quality improvement, and obsolescence mitigation initiatives.
- •Investigate and resolve manufacturing, supplier, and/or quality issues.
- •Drive corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) and root cause analysis activities.
- •Partner with Operations and Quality teams to improve production performance and customer satisfaction.
- •Maintain technical documentation including work instructions, process specifications, and manufacturing standards.
Production Support & Continuous Improvement
- •Provide technical support for production ramp activities and manufacturing operations.
- •Mentor technicians and production personnel in troubleshooting, process execution, and continuous improvement.
- •Identify and implement productivity improvements through Lean Manufacturing.
- •Improve production throughput, yield, labor efficiency, and operational performance.