Engineering Lab Technician

Zero Point Motion is building a new generation of inertial sensors using silicon photonics and MEMS. We are developing sensors that can measure motion with far greater sensitivity, lower drift, and better immunity to electrical noise than conventional approaches. Our technology has the potential to change how robots, vehicles, autonomous systems, industrial machines, and defence platforms understand movement in the physical world. We are an early-stage, VC-backed deep-tech company based in Bristol. The team is small, ambitious, and highly technical.

The Role

We are hiring an Engineering Lab Technician to support the build, test, maintenance, and day-to-day running of our engineering lab. This is a hands‑on role for someone who enjoys practical engineering. You will work across mechanical fixtures, 3D printed parts, soldered assemblies, test equipment, electrical setups, optical and sensor rigs, and Python‑based automation. Some of the work will be repetitive. Some of it will be detailed and delicate. Some of it will involve debugging things that do not work the first time. That is part of building real hardware. The right person will enjoy making things work properly. They will be careful, reliable, curious, and willing to learn. They will take pride in doing practical work well, whether that means building a fixture, soldering a cable, automating a test, checking inventory, or helping an engineer get a setup running before a deadline. This is a good role for someone who wants to grow inside a startup and become trusted as a central part of the engineering team.

What You’ll Help Build

You will help us build the practical foundation of the company: the lab systems, test setups, fixtures, tools, scripts, and routines that allow the engineering team to move faster. You will not be sitting far away from the technology. You will be close to the hardware, close to the experiments, and close to the problems we are trying to solve. Over time, we want this person to become someone who understands how the lab works, knows where things are, knows what needs improving, and can help the team turn ideas into working setups quickly and carefully.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

• Building and improving lab setups: You will help build, modify, and maintain test setups used by the engineering team. This may include mechanical fixtures, 3D printed parts, soldered cables, electrical test boards, optical mounts, sensor rigs, and general lab infrastructure.
• Supporting practical delivery: Hardware development depends on practical tasks being finished properly and on time. You will help make sure fixtures, test setups, parts, measurements, scripts, and lab checks are ready when the team needs them.
• Debugging and fixing things: You will help diagnose practical problems with equipment, drivers, test scripts, connections, cables, boards, fixtures, and measurement setups.
• Automating repetitive work: Where we are doing the same task repeatedly, we want to make it easier, faster, and less error-prone. You will help write Python scripts for measurement capture, data logging, instrument control, simple analysis, test routines, and lab workflow improvements.
• Keeping the lab organised and reliable: You will help maintain inventory, track components, check equipment, manage consumables, keep spares organised, and make sure the lab stays usable as the company grows.
• Health and safety: You will help keep the lab safe, tidy, and well-managed.

What You’ll Be Doing Day to Day

• Design and 3D print mechanical fixtures, brackets, mounts, jigs, and test aids.
• Solder wires, connectors, simple boards, and test assemblies.
• Use oscilloscopes, logic analysers, power supplies, signal generators, laser drivers, and other lab equipment.
• Set up and run repeatable electrical, mechanical, optical, or sensor tests.
• Debug equipment, scripts, drivers, loose connections, noisy signals, or unreliable measurements.
• Write Python scripts to automate measurements, logging, analysis, or instrument control.
• Help keep inventory records accurate and make sure critical parts are available.
• Maintain lab equipment and flag issues early.
• Support engineers during test campaigns, prototype builds, and measurement workflows.
• Document procedures so tests can be repeated by someone else.
• Suggest practical improvements to how the lab runs.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for someone who is practical, careful, and motivated by real engineering work.

You Should Be Someone Who:

• Likes working with your hands.
• Takes care with details.
• Can do repetitive tasks properly and consistently.
• Manages your time well.
• Takes deadlines seriously.
• Enjoys fixing things.
• Is comfortable learning independently.
• Communicates clearly when something is blocked.
• Documents work so that others can follow it.
• Wants to grow with the company as the lab and technology mature.

You do not need to arrive as the finished article. You do need to bring the right attitude: hands‑on, reliable, curious, and careful.

Useful But Not Essential

These would be helpful, but we can train the right person:

• Photonics or optics awareness.
• Experience with MEMS, sensors, or semiconductor technology.
• Embedded hardware design.
• PCB design versus simple bring up.
• Experience in a startup, small engineering team, or fast‑moving research group.

Qualifications

We are open to different backgrounds. You may have a degree, HNC/HND, apprenticeship, Masters, or equivalent hands‑on experience in engineering, physics, electronics, mechanical design, robotics, instrumentation, or a related technical area. What matters most is that you can work safely, carefully, and effectively in a real lab.

What Success Looks Like In This Role, Success Means:

• The lab becomes more organised, reliable, and easier to work in.
• Test setups are built, maintained, and improved on time.
• Repetitive work becomes more automated.
• Engineers can move faster because practical blockers are removed.
• Equipment issues are spotted early and handled properly.
• Measurements become more repeatable because procedures are clear.
• You become someone the team trusts to help turn ideas into working hardware.

Why Join Us

This is a chance to join a deep‑tech company at an early and important stage. You will be working on technology that sits across photonics, MEMS, sensors, robotics, navigation, autonomy, and defence. You will get exposure to difficult engineering problems and work closely with a team trying to build a new sensor architecture from the ground up. For the right person, this role can grow. As the lab grows, the responsibility can grow too.