Senior Systems Engineer - Optical Systems

S[&]T; Zuid-Holland; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

S[&]T in Delft, the Netherlands, seeks a Senior Systems Engineer to guide the development of advanced optical and photonic systems. You will lead cross-disciplinary teams, translate complex requirements into concrete designs, and own key system architectures for high-tech applications across space, environment, and industry sectors.

You will collaborate with optics, mechanical, thermal, software, and electronics teams to balance performance, schedule, and risk while driving innovation and

Qualifications

• Master's degree or PhD in Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, Photonics, Systems Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of systems engineering experience in multidisciplinary technology environments.
• Experience with requirements management, system architecture development, verification & validation, risk management & mitigation, planning & estimation, and integration.
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams to develop state-of-the-art systems.
• Ability to balance stakeholder needs, constraints, and performance in decision making.

Responsibilities

• Guide the development and realization of complex optical and photonic systems.
• Align experts from multiple engineering disciplines to achieve project objectives.
• Own the overall technical solution and system architecture.
• Translate customer needs into achievable system designs.
• Manage system requirements, interfaces, verification activities, and trade-offs.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks across the project lifecycle.
• Drive system integration and delivery.
• Communicate effectively with technical teams, leadership, customers, and partners.
• Support business development and proposal efforts.

Skills

Systems thinking

Leadership

Communication

Stakeholder mgmt

Mentoring

Problem solving

Analytical

Education

Master's degree

PhD

Job description

At S[&]T we contribute to a safer life on Earth by translating space data into valuable and actionable insights. With this, we help organizations, governments and commercial entities to strengthen their information position and thereby improve their decision-making. We focus on 4 domains: Space & Science, Defence & Security, Environment & Sustainability and the High-Tech Industry. We control all levels of the data value chain from data source to user applications, and apply our expertise within our innovations, customer projects and talent acquisition services. Our headquarters are in Delft, The Netherlands and we have two satellite offices in Oslo, Norway and Rome, Italy with a total of 125 experts employed at S[&]T.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Systems Engineer to guide the development of advanced optical systems for challenging, high-technology applications. Working in a multidisciplinary environment, you will play a key role in transforming complex technical requirements into innovative system solutions.

The systems you will work on may range from large-scale optical instruments and sensing platforms to highly miniaturized photonic and integrated optical technologies. These solutions are applied across sectors such as aerospace, environmental monitoring, industrial instrumentation, communications, semiconductor equipment, medical technologies, and emerging quantum applications. You will work closely with specialists from optics, photonics, mechanical engineering, thermal engineering, manufacturing, integration, calibration, software, electronics, and systems engineering disciplines. You will ensure that complex systems are successfully developed, integrated, and delivered while balancing technical performance, schedule, risk, and stakeholder expectations.

Responsibilities

As Senior Systems Engineer, you will provide technical leadership throughout the complete system development lifecycle. Key responsibilities include:

• Guiding the development and realization of complex optical and photonic systems.
• Aligning experts from multiple engineering disciplines to achieve project objectives.
• Taking ownership of the overall technical solution and system architecture.
• Translating customer needs and stakeholder requirements into achievable system designs.
• Managing system requirements, interfaces, verification activities, and technical trade-offs.
• Identifying, assessing, and mitigating technical risks throughout project execution.
• Driving successful system integration and delivery.
• Ensuring effective communication between technical teams, project leadership, customers, and external partners.
• Contributing to technology strategy, innovation roadmaps, and future product development.
• Supporting business development activities by identifying new opportunities and contributing to proposal efforts.
• Mentoring and coaching less experienced systems engineers while promoting engineering best practices.

Requirements

To be successful in this role, you combine deep technical expertise with strong systems thinking and leadership capabilities. You are comfortable operating across disciplines and guiding teams through technically demanding projects.

• A Master's degree or PhD in Applied Physics, Optical Engineering, Photonics, Systems Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• At least 10 years of experience in systems engineering within complex, multidisciplinary technology environments.
• Strong expertise in systems engineering methodologies, including: Requirements management, System architecture development, Verification and validation, Risk management and mitigation, Technical planning and estimation, Systems integration.
• Proven experience bringing experts from multiple disciplines together to jointly develop beyond-state-of-the art-systems.
• The ability to make sound technical decisions while balancing stakeholder needs, project constraints, and system performance requirements.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• A track record of delivering innovative, complex technology systems from concept through implementation.
• Experience contributing to technology development, innovation programs, or intellectual property generation.
• Fluent English language skills, both written and verbal.

The following would be considered an advantage:

• Experience with optical communications, satellite payloads, space-based instrumentation, or remote sensing systems.
• Experience with integrated photonics or photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
• Experience within highly regulated or high-performance engineering environments.
• Experience working with low-TRL technologies and advanced R&D programs.