How to become an optical engineer
Official title: Optical engineer
Also called: Electro-optical engineer, Laser engineer, Optics engineer, Photonics engineer, Photonics engineer, Laser engineer
Optical engineer designs and develops different industrial applications with optics. He/she applies knowledge of light, light transmission principles, and optics to design engineering specs of equipment such as microscopes, lenses, telescopes, lasers and other optical devices.
Main tasks
- Designing components of optical instruments such as lenses, microscopes, telescopes, lasers, optical disc systems and other equipment that utilise the properties of light
Ways in
- University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 4 universities in Singapore
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Procurement engineer
- Biomedical engineer
- Materials engineer
- Industrial safety engineer
- Quantity surveyor
- Intellectual property engineer
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Questions people ask
How do I become an optical engineer?
Ways in include: Engineering degrees.
Will AI change the work of an optical engineer?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026