Principal Optical Architect — Edinburgh (Visa Sponsorship)

IC Resources; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Visa sponsorship

Job summary

IC Resources is seeking a senior systems engineering leader for an early-stage deep-tech optics company based in Edinburgh. You will own the system architecture across optical, opto-mechanical, electronic and thermal domains, driving it from lab proof to a manufacturable product.

You will manage performance budgets, define interfaces, and lead integration, IVVQ and de-risking activities while collaborating with partners and academic collaborators. Visa sponsorship is available.

Qualifications

• PhD or degree in physics, optical engineering or related field with strong optics grounding.
• Experience with Gaussian optics, beam propagation, interference and polarisation.
• Proven systems engineering across full lifecycle: requirements, architecture, interfaces, IVVQ.
• Hands-on opto-mechanics: tolerancing, mounting, alignment and bonding.
• Experience packaging optics, electronics and mechanics in quantum/photonic domains.

Responsibilities

• Own the system architecture and requirements across optical, opto-mechanical, electronic, thermal and software domains to detailed design.
• Define and manage performance budgets (throughput, wavefront, pointing error, alignment, noise, drift, SWaP).
• Define interfaces and maintain interface control documents.
• Lead integration and packaging of lasers, optics, detectors, electronics and mechanics.
• Lead IVVQ activities including thermal, vibration and shock testing with traceability to requirements.
• Run de-risking experiments and document key design decisions.
• Lead systems engineering work packages on grant-funded projects with partners and suppliers.
• Maintain coherence across disciplines and mentor engineers in systems thinking.

Skills

Gaussian optics

Beam propagation

Interference

Polarisation

Systems engineering

IVVQ

Tolerancing

Kinematic mounting

Thermal management

Vibration analysis

Python

MATLAB

CAD

FEA

Zemax

CODE V

Education

PhD in Physics or Optical Engineering

Degree in Physics or Optical Engineering

Tools

Zemax

CODE V

MATLAB

Python

CAD

FEA

LabVIEW

Job description

IC Resources is seeking a senior systems engineering leader for an early-stage deep-tech optics company based in Edinburgh. You will own the system architecture across optical, opto-mechanical, electronic and thermal domains, driving it from lab proof to a manufacturable product.

You will manage performance budgets, define interfaces, and lead integration, IVVQ and de-risking activities while collaborating with partners and academic collaborators. Visa sponsorship is available.