Reward and Benefits
£65,000 to £83,000 (depending on experience)
25 days annual leave, death in service and private health care benefits, personal pension contributions of 4% with salary sacrifice and a generous EMI Share scheme.
About the role
You’ll join a small, specialist optics team, leading both people and technical delivery. The role is hands‑on and involves shaping the optics strategy for the organisation.
Typical Day
* Leading and supporting the optics team, including career development, mentoring, training, appraisals and recruitment.
* Providing hands‑on technical leadership and setting quality standards.
* Working with senior leadership to define and evolve the company’s optics strategy.
* Driving continuous improvement across products, processes, tools and people.
* Collaborating with architects and project leads for successful project delivery.
* Engaging with stakeholders across technical teams, departments and functions.
* Selecting, contracting and managing external partners to extend capability or short‑term capacity.
* Balancing delivery and leadership to ensure work gets done while building a strong team for the future.
Qualifications
* Self‑motivated, able to inspire a team.
* Knowledge of optical design best practices.
* Excellent communication skills in English.
* Approximately 3 years of people management experience.
* 5+ years of industry experience as an optical engineer, involving hands‑on optics, custom mechanics integration, optical modelling (e.g. Zemax) and data analysis (e.g. Matlab, Python).
* Experience building optical systems into products, considering manufacturability, alignment and stability.
* Understanding of product lifecycle management (requirements, design reviews, etc.).
Nice to Have
* LSO experience/familiarisation.
* Project management experience.
* Interferometer design and optimisation.
* Optical microscope design.
* JIRA or similar tool tracking software.
* Experience working with external partners, contractors and suppliers for optics.
Education / Qualifications
Either a degree in Optics or a related engineering discipline (preferably CEng or similar recognition). Equivalent apprenticeship or accumulated experience is acceptable.
Attributes
* Self‑management – works independently, sets priorities.
* Teamwork – engages with others, supports colleagues.
* Impact and Influence – establishes knowledge centre.
* Ownership & Initiative – reacts to and solves issues proactively.
1. Results Orientation – focuses on goals and makes timely decisions.
Location and Work Pattern
All new UK team members work on site in Abingdon for the first three months. Flexible, hybrid working is offered after the probation period.
Accessibility
If you require adjustments to take part in the recruitment process, please let us know – we’ll do our best to support you.
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