Photonics Engineer

Job Description

Imagine delivering laser light into a microscopic diamond with absolute precision and collecting a signal so faint that every design decision matters.

A new generation of quantum sensing depends on that moment.

An early-stage venture-backed deep-tech startup is building a diamond-on-chip platform that measures magnetic fields with extraordinary precision. The technology is already proven in the lab.

The mission now is to turn that optical system into a compact manufacturable module ready for real-world deployment.

This role exists to make that leap.

The opportunity

As a Photonics Engineer you will own the optical excitation and fluorescence read-out system that sits at the core of the product.

You will design how light is delivered into the diamond sensor how the signal is collected and how that entire optical system becomes a stable repeatable and vendor-buildable package integrated with diamond and CMOS electronics.

Your scope will include:

defining the optical architecture and component choices
building and aligning hands-on prototypes
optimising excitation and read-out performance
working with diamond and optics suppliers on processing and quality
designing a compact photonics package that can actually be assembled at scale
defining tolerances workflows and documentation for manufacturing partners

You will work closely with quantum electronics mechanical and test engineers to balance performance with alignment tolerance thermal behaviour and production constraints.

About you

You are a hands-on optical or photonics engineer who has built real systems not only modelled them.

You have experience designing and characterising laser-based or fluorescence read-out systems and understand what it takes to align stabilise and troubleshoot them in practice.

You are comfortable owning an optical subsystem end-to-end and enjoy turning high-performance designs into dependable hardware.

Experience with optical sensing instrumentation spectroscopy microscopy lidar or similar photonics products is highly relevant.
Exposure to packaging manufacturing support or working with external vendors is a strong advantage.

You do not need a quantum background but you do need curiosity pragmatism and the ability to learn fast in a new technical domain.

What success looks like

Within your first year you will have:

defined and validated a production-ready optical architecture
delivered repeatable stable optical performance across prototypes
produced a compact manufacturable photonics package integrating optics diamond and electronics
established clear assembly tolerances and vendor-ready documentation

Why join

Your work directly enables navigation where GPS fails and lower-impact mineral exploration and helps move quantum sensing out of the lab and into real environments.

Australian citizenship or permanent residency is required due to defence-aligned projects.

If youd like to find out more reach out to Thaís