Principal System Engineer

Our client is an early-stage deep-tech company developing a new class of optical system for advanced manufacturing, backed by leading venture investors and UK innovation funding.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of the system architecture as the technology moves from lab demonstration to a robust, manufacturable product, bringing optics, opto-mechanics, electronics and thermal management together into one coherent design.

This is an onsite role based in Edinburgh.

Job Responsibilities

• Own the system architecture and requirements decomposition across optical, opto-mechanical, electronic, thermal and software domains, through to detailed design.
• Define and manage performance budgets (throughput, wavefront and pointing error, alignment, noise, drift and SWaP) and lead trade studies towards a manufacturable design.
• Define and control subsystem interfaces and maintain interface control documents.
• Lead the integration and packaging of lasers, optics, detectors, electronics and mechanics into compact, stable assemblies, including tolerancing, alignment, materials and bonding.
• Lead integration, verification, validation and qualification (IVVQ), including thermal, vibration and shock testing, with traceability to requirements.
• Run de-risking experiments and prototypes, and ensure key design decisions are made, recorded and communicated.
• Lead systems engineering work packages on grant-funded projects with partners, suppliers and academic collaborators.
• Keep designs coherent across disciplines and support engineers in developing their systems thinking.

Experience Required

• Degree or PhD in Physics, Optical Engineering or a related discipline, with a strong grounding in Gaussian optics, beam propagation, interference and polarisation.
• Proven systems engineering experience across the full lifecycle: requirements, architecture, interface control, design reviews, risk management and IVVQ.
• Strong hands-on opto-mechanics experience, including tolerancing, kinematic mounting, alignment and bonding, and managing thermal and vibration effects.
• Experience packaging optics, electronics and mechanics together in areas such as quantum technologies, photonics, lasers, space or defence optronics, or precision instruments.
• Extensive cleanroom and lab experience building and characterising low-noise optical systems.
• Working knowledge of laser drivers, detectors, signal chains and temperature control, plus Python and/or MATLAB for modelling and data analysis.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to bridge physicists and engineers in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment.
• Experience with CAD, FEA, Zemax or CODE V, environmental qualification, design for manufacture or MBSE is desirable but not essential.

Benefits

• Principal-level ownership of the architecture of a new product.
• Direct influence over engineering practice and technical direction in a well-funded, collaborative team.
• Opportunity to take an advanced optical system from lab demonstration through to a qualified, manufacturable platform.
• Visa sponsorship is available

If you are interested, get in touch with Ella Flynn at IC Resources