Optical Engineer

Full-time position. Onsite 5 days a week – Chiswick, London. We’re hiring a Senior Optical Engineer to develop custom optics, lens designs and tolerance strategies that move HoloMem’s product development towards production and help bring our ambitious first product to market.

About HoloMem - At HoloMem, we’re building the next generation of mass data storage hardware; highly efficient, long life, and ultra durable. Our pioneering and patented holographic technology encodes data as light within advanced polymers, enabling a resilient and future fit alternative to today’s short lived and energy intensive data storage infrastructure. Over the past 24 months HoloMem has graduated from both the Intel Ignite and Deeptech Labs accelerators, been awarded two Innovate UK Smart Grants, closed a seed+ funding round, and most recently deployed a working HoloDrive prototype to a live data centre to prove the robustness of our system. Off the back of our breakthrough partnership with BDT, the world’s largest tape library manufacturer, we now begin the transition from prototype to product, maturing our validated system into a mass-produced technology platform that enables state of the art data storage performance at scale. We have ambitious plans, and we are now scaling up our West London based team to enable them. Join us.

What You’ll Be Doing – You’ll work on the optical systems at the heart of HoloMem’s product development, with a core focus on Zemax-based optical design, lens design, tolerance analysis, supplier feasibility, production intent and cost reduction. This is not a purely simulation-based role. You will need to connect optical design decisions to real assemblies, supplier capability, manufacturing constraints, cost, quality and system performance. You’ll help translate product-level requirements into optical performance targets, tolerance budgets and practical acceptance criteria, then use simulation, supplier input and prototype evidence to close the loop between design intent and real-world performance. You’ll work closely with mechanical engineering so that lens mounting, assembly constraints, thermal behaviour and design-for-assembly decisions are treated as part of the optical system, not downstream packaging problems. You’ll take ownership of defined optical work packages, review optical design work constructively, and support technical decisions around performance specifications, quality controls, cost reduction and design risk.

The Specifics About the Role - This role is suited to a senior optical design engineer who has worked on lenses, camera assemblies, custom optics or comparable optical systems, and who understands what changes when an optical design has to move towards production. This role is suited to a Senior Optical Engineer who can demonstrate the ability to:

• Design, simulate and optimise optical systems using Zemax OpticStudio
• Develop lens designs, custom optics and beam shaping approaches for production-intent optical systems
• Define, analyse and review optical tolerances, including tolerance stack-up effects across optics, mounting and assembly
• Assess how temperature, material properties and mechanical expansion affect optical alignment, focus or system performance
• Translate optical performance needs into specifications, tolerance budgets and acceptance criteria
• Work with mechanical engineers on lens mounting, dense packaging, optomechanical integration and design for assembly
• Connect optical design choices to manufacturability, cost, supplier feasibility and technical quality controls
• Work with optics suppliers on component specification, tolerance feasibility, cost-down and production constraints
• Correlate optical models with prototype data, supplier feedback and assembly evidence
• Use Python to support optical analysis, modelling, data processing or design review
• Review optical design work constructively, challenge assumptions and help improve the quality of technical decisions across the team

Who You Are - You are a hands-on optical design engineer who is comfortable working between Zemax models, lens designs, physical assemblies, supplier constraints and cross-functional engineering decisions. You understand that optical performance is not only set by the lens prescription, but by tolerances, mounting, thermal behaviour, assembly process, supplier capability and how the optical system sits inside the product. You state assumptions clearly, expose the risks in a design and make practical recommendations when the information is incomplete. You are confident enough to challenge existing work constructively, but grounded enough to separate real technical risk from personal preference or over-optimisation. You should enjoy working on problems where time, cost, specification, quality and scalability all matter at once. This role will suit someone who has seen optical design move towards production and understands the compromises required to make a system perform reliably outside a clean design file.

Required Experience – Around 3–5 years of relevant industry experience in optical engineering. Strong experience using Zemax OpticStudio for optical design, simulation, optimisation and tolerance analysis. Experience with lens design for optical systems, camera assemblies, optical engines or comparable hardware. Experience with optical tolerancing and tolerance stack-up analysis. Experience connecting optical design choices to assembly, cost, quality and manufacturability. Experience assessing how mechanical mounting, material properties or temperature can affect optical performance. Experience working with optics suppliers on component feasibility, specification, tolerance limits, cost or production constraints. Experience supporting production-intent development of lenses, camera assemblies, custom optics or similar optical hardware. Ability to work independently on defined technical work packages. Strong cross-disciplinary communication with mechanical, systems and hardware engineering teams. Clear technical documentation and design review discipline.

Desirable Skills - Experience taking optical products or subassemblies into production. Experience with camera module development, lens stack design or imaging system production. Experience with beam shaping or custom optics design. Proficiency with Python for optical analysis, modelling, simulation support or data processing. Experience with dense optical packaging or constrained lens mounting. Experience with FMEA, risk management or structured design review processes. Broader production engineering experience outside optics. Familiarity with safety, quality or production control requirements for optical hardware. Knowledge of holography or holographic optical systems. Experience with cost reduction of optical assemblies or custom optical components. Experience defining performance specifications, acceptance criteria or technical quality controls for optical systems. Experience supporting supplier selection, supplier review or manufacturability discussions for optics.

Benefits At HoloMem - Competitive salary, 25 days annual leave, employer pension contributions, cycle-to-work scheme, a collaborative, knowledgeable team working on deeply technical, world-positive problems.

How to Apply - Click apply or send your CV to careers@holomem.co.uk. Show us what you’ve designed, built, or tested. If you’re excited about the mission, even if you don’t meet every requirement, we’d love to hear from you. HoloMem is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and are committed to building an inclusive environment for all.