Research Engineer

Do you love turning demanding optical setups into robust hardware that others can rely on? Are you at home in the lab with lasers and optics, and comfortable working across electronics, control software, mechanics, and automation? Would you like to help build a deep-tech startup-not only by developing technology, but by turning it into products for real customers? The Institute of Physics (IoP) is looking for a hands-on Research Engineer to work with the Ultracold Strontium Gases group and its spin-off OpticsFoundry B.V.

OpticsFoundry is developing technology for the robotic manufacture of compact, stable optical circuits for quantum technology and other demanding applications. Our optical circuit boards are already used in the AQuRA optical lattice clock; the next challenge is to broaden the platform to lasers, optical cavities, frequency references, and other active systems. Working at the boundary between the University of Amsterdam and OpticsFoundry, and in collaboration with the Nonlinear Nanophotonics group at the University of Twente, you will help turn advanced laboratory optics into repeatable, manufacturable products. This is an opportunity to join at an early stage, shape both the technology and the way we build it, and-if there is a strong mutual fit-progressively move from UvA into a core engineering role at OpticsFoundry over the course of the project.

You will take ownership of challenging engineering problems from first idea to tested hardware. In a small, fast-moving team, you will design experiments, build prototypes, measure performance, find failure modes, and iterate until a system is robust enough for production and customer use.

• designing and building compact optical circuits that incorporate gain media, piezo and motorized actuators, optical cavities, spectroscopy cells, photonic integrated circuits, and related components;
• developing robotic methods to place, align, bond, and integrate optical compone...