Senior Mechanical Design Engineer

ADLIB; West of England; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Light Trace Photonics, Bristol-based, seeks a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer to own mechanical architecture across R&D prototyping projects. You’ll lead from requirements to tested hardware, and liaison with suppliers and machine shops, ensuring precision and manufacturability throughout development.

You will act as the mechanical authority in reviews, manage prototyping efforts, and contribute to lab equipment modifications to support fast-moving innovation in photonics packaging.

Qualifications

• Substantial mechanical or optomechanical design experience, including high precision or micro-mechanical work.
• Expert command of a 3D CAD package (Autodesk, SolidWorks or similar), including large assemblies and drawing production.
• Strong grasp of precision engineering fundamentals: kinematics, stiffness, vibration, thermal effects, repeatability.
• Experience specifying and integrating precision motion and actuation hardware, and the fixturing to position work.
• Tolerance analysis, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and finite element analysis experience.
• Hands-on prototyping, 3D printing and assembly; comfortable at the screen.

Responsibilities

• Lead mechanical design across R&D prototyping projects from requirements capture through detailed design to tested hardware.
• Design high precision mechanical assemblies and optomechanical sub-components, and see them through prototype build and test.
• Design and adapt the laboratory equipment that supports our development programmes.
• Model and test prototype performance under environmental and lifetime conditions, and feed the results back into the design.
• Consider manufacturability and volume deployment at every design phase, alongside the partners who will ultimately build at scale.
• Lead design reviews and set the drawing, tolerancing and documentation standards; and
• Own the relationship with machine shops and specialist suppliers, from specification and quotation through to acceptance.
• Delivering mechanical outputs for key R&D projects to schedule and to budget.
• Acting as the technical authority on mechanical design decisions, and building the case for the approach taken.
• Ensuring hardware and equipment built for internal use is safe and fit for purpose.
• Specifying equipment and tooling purchases and justifying them to the Chief Technology Officer.
• Reporting development and test progress clearly to senior leadership.

Skills

High precision design

3D CAD proficiency

Prototype development

Tolerance analysis

Metrology

Team collaboration

Prototype testing

Tools

Autodesk

SolidWorks

FEA

Job description

About Light Trace Photonics
Light Trace Photonics is a Bristol-based company developing the Universal Photonic Interconnect (UPIc), a fibre-chip interface that allows integrated photonics packaging to scale with the volume demands of data communications and quantum technologies. We are a small and technically deep team. Our R&D group designs, prototypes and proves the technology, and we work with established packaging and manufacturing partners to bring it to market at scale.

About the role
We are seeking a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer to help lead the mechanical design and engineering effort across our R&D team, and to deliver on a varied portfolio of prototyping projects.
This is a hands-on senior role. You will own the mechanical architecture of the work you lead and act as the mechanical authority in design reviews and technical decisions. The work spans product design, prototype build, and laboratory equipment modification that supports our development programmes, so you should be comfortable moving between different mechanical problems and judging where the engineering effort belongs.

What you’ll be doing:

• Lead mechanical design across R&D prototyping projects, from requirements capture through detailed design to tested hardware.
• Design high precision mechanical assemblies and optomechanical sub-components, and see them through prototype build and test.
• Design and adapt the laboratory equipment that supports our development programmes.
• Model and test prototype performance under environmental and lifetime conditions, and feed the results back into the design.
• Consider manufacturability and volume deployment at every design phase, alongside the partners who will ultimately build at scale.
• Lead design reviews and set the drawing, tolerancing and documentation standards; and
• Own the relationship with machine shops and specialist suppliers, from specification and quotation through to acceptance.

Core responsibilities:

• Delivering mechanical outputs for key R&D projects to schedule and to budget.
• Acting as the technical authority on mechanical design decisions, and building the case for the approach taken.
• Ensuring hardware and equipment built for internal use is safe and fit for purpose.
• Specifying equipment and tooling purchases and justifying them to the Chief Technology Officer.
• Reporting development and test progress clearly to senior leadership.

What experience you’ll need to apply:

• Substantial mechanical or optomechanical design experience, ideally including high precision or micro- mechanical work.
• Expert command of a 3D CAD package (Autodesk, SolidWorks or similar), including large assemblies and drawing production.
• Strong grasp of precision engineering fundamentals, including kinematic design, stiffness and vibration, thermal effects and repeatability.
• Experience specifying and integrating precision motion and actuation hardware, and the fixturing that positions work accurately.
• Competence in tolerance analysis, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing, and finite element analysis.
• Experience taking a piece of equipment or an instrument from specification through build to commissioning.
• Hands-on prototyping, 3D printing and assembly, and comfort on the tools as well as at the screen.
• Experience testing hardware against defined specifications, and the metrology skills to prove it.
• Clear written and spoken communication, and the ability to work in a small team where priorities move.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience developing photonic or electronic connector products.
• Experience of cleanroom compatible design and contamination control.
• Experience taking a prototype through to production or through product certification.
• Experience in cryogenic mechanics.
• A track record of leading or mentoring other engineers.
• Experience in integrated photonic packaging; and/or
• Exposure to automation and control software, enough to work well alongside controls engineers.

What you’ll get in return for your experience
The ability to help shape the Mechanical engineering efforts in a fast moving and exciting growth sector, with an inclusive and welcoming environment.

Compensation & Benefits include:
A competitive salary, depending on experience.
Access to the company share options scheme.
Employer pension contributions.
25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays.
Flexitime with core hours from 10am to 3pm.