Lead Optical Engineer for Next-Gen Optics

Langham Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Langham Recruitment in London is seeking a Principal Optical Engineer to lead the optical architecture of a next‑generation hardware platform. You will own the design from prototyping through production and guide the technical direction of the project.

You will design, model, simulate, and optimise optical systems using Zemax, oversee development from prototype to production, and drive budgets, calibration strategies, and tolerance analyses.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree in optics or related field (Master's/PhD).
• 7+ years in optical design/engineering for complex hardware.
• Expert in Zemax for design, simulation, tolerancing.
• Experience bringing optical designs from prototype to production.

Responsibilities

• Own optical architecture and technical direction.
• Design, model, simulate, and optimise optical systems with Zemax.
• Lead optical system development from prototypes through verification, validation and production.
• Develop optical budgets, tolerance analyses, error budgets and calibration strategies.
• Balance performance with manufacturability, cost, reliability, packaging, and thermal considerations.
• Work hands-on in the lab to validate designs and correlate simulations with measurements.

Skills

Optical design

Holography experience

Laboratory testing

Prototype to production

Education

Master's or PhD in Optics

Tools

Zemax

Job description

Langham Recruitment in London is seeking a Principal Optical Engineer to lead the optical architecture of a next‑generation hardware platform. You will own the design from prototyping through production and guide the technical direction of the project.

You will design, model, simulate, and optimise optical systems using Zemax, oversee development from prototype to production, and drive budgets, calibration strategies, and tolerance analyses.