Junior Optimization Engineer (UPC collaboration)

Lace Lithography; Barcelona; Presencial; EUR 35.000 - 45.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

A leading company in advanced lithography is seeking a Junior Optimization Engineer for a one-year contract in Barcelona. This role involves developing numerical optimization methods for complex systems, collaborating with teams to solve challenging engineering problems, and offers potential for a permanent position.

Servicios

Competitive salary + equity

Quarterly development goals and budget for personal growth

Support for travel between company locations

Formación

• Strong foundation in mathematics, including calculus, linear algebra, and numerical analysis.
• Solid knowledge of nonlinear optimization, numerical methods, and constraint handling.
• Fluent in spoken and written Catalan, Spanish, and English.

Responsabilidades

• Design, implement, and fine-tune nonlinear optimization algorithms for complex systems.
• Translate physical systems into optimization models with mathematical constraints.
• Integrate solver libraries and explore computational acceleration techniques.

Conocimientos

Nonlinear optimization

Scientific programming

Mathematics

Educación

Bachelor or Masters degree in math, physics, computer science or engineering

Herramientas

Julia

Python

C++

IPOPT

Git

Descripción del empleo

We’re on a mission to solve really, really complex problems. You’ll make sure our systems find the perfect solution, every time.

Lace Lithography, in collaboration with the UPC CHIP Chair, is seeking a Junior Optimization Engineer to join our Mask team in Barcelona. In this role, you will help develop and scale numerical optimization methods for high-dimensional and nonlinear systems. This position is crucial for supporting the software of our advanced lithography systems.

This role is for a one-year contract based in Barcelona. Following the initial collaboration, there is a possibility for a permanent position at the company.

This is a high-impact role for an engineer with a passion for scientific programming and complex problem-solving. You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of physicists, software developers, and engineers. The position is a one-year contract based in Barcelona.

About the Role

This is a core software role at the intersection of numerical optimization, scientific computing, and engineering. You’ll be designing and implementing the algorithms that solve our most complex computational challenges, translating physical systems into robust mathematical models.

You’ll collaborate closely with physicists and software developers on our Mask team to integrate advanced solvers and ensure our computational models align with real-world systems. If you have a strong foundation in nonlinear optimization and scientific programming, this is your chance to develop and scale cutting-edge optimization methods in an ambitious deep-tech environment.

What you’ll do

• Algorithm Development: Design, implement, and fine-tune nonlinear optimization algorithms for large-scale and highly complex systems.
• Modeling: Translate physical or engineering systems into optimization models with clearly defined mathematical constraints and objectives.
• Programming: Develop robust, maintainable, and high-performance code using scientific programming languages like Julia, Python, or C++.
• Integration & Acceleration: Integrate solver libraries like IPOPT via APIs and explore GPU-based techniques to accelerate computationally intensive components.
• Validation & Debugging: Design test cases to validate model robustness, and debug numerical issues to improve algorithm accuracy, performance, and stability.
• Collaboration: Work with multidisciplinary teams to ensure consistency between computational models and physical systems.

Who you are

• Having a bachelor or masters degree in math, physics, compute science or engineering or related field
• Strong foundation in mathematics, including calculus, linear algebra, and numerical analysis.
• Solid knowledge of nonlinear optimization, numerical methods, and constraint handling.
• Experience in scientific programming with languages such as Julia, Python, or C++.
• Familiarity with optimization libraries like IPOPT or other solvers is a plus.
• Comfortable using version control systems like Git.
• A logical thinker with good organizational skills, able to work on several complex topics at once.
• Has a positive attitude toward working in an interdisciplinary and computationally intensive environment.
• Fluent in spoken and written Catalan, Spanish, and English.

Our team here at Lace

…consists of amazing people who’ve joined us from all over the world, driven by intense curiosity, the urge for exploration, and a desire to push the limits of physics. We promise to offer you a place among highly motivated Lacers, present you with extremely difficult problems - and have a lot of fun solving them.

Workplace & culture

Lace operates out of three beautiful, vibrant, and strong-willed cities. Although we are cities apart, we strive to make the team feel as one.

We don’t define values - but we have one universal expectation: Be the best team player you can be.

Perks and Benefits

Part of the team, part of the company

Competitive salary + equity through our incentive plan.

Personal Development Quarterly development goals with your manager and your own budget to learn and grow.

️ Travel between Lace locations We encourage cross-site collaboration and support travel between our York, Barcelona, and Bergen locations to stay connected and aligned.