Senior Prototype & Manufacturing Engineer

We are looking for a Senior Prototype & Manufacturing Engineer to strengthen our Engineering team. Join Optics11 and help turn innovative designs into manufacturable products.

At Optics11, we develop cutting-edge fiber-optic sensing solutions that make critical infrastructure and underwater security systems smarter, safer, and more reliable.

In this role, you will play a key part in transforming engineering designs into robust, manufacturable products. You will take ownership of prototype realization and Design for Manufacturing activities, ensuring products can be built, assembled, integrated, tested, and scaled efficiently. Working closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams, suppliers, manufacturing partners, and internal stakeholders, you will help bridge the gap between product development and successful product realization.

What You'll Do

• Take ownership of prototype realization and Design for Manufacturing (DfM) activities within multidisciplinary product development projects.

• Support the transition from engineering designs to prototype, pilot production, and manufacturing-ready solutions.

• Plan, coordinate, and support prototype assembly, integration, and build activities, ensuring products can be built and tested efficiently.

• Develop and maintain assembly procedures, work instructions, manufacturing documentation, and prototype build records.

• Evaluate product designs from a Design for Manufacturing (DfM), Design for Assembly (DfA), and Design for Test (DfT) .perspective, providing recommendations to improve manufacturability and product robustness.

• Collaborate closely with engineering teams, suppliers, manufacturing partners, and internal stakeholders to resolve assembly, integration, and production challenges.

• Participate in prototype testing and validation activities, capturing build findings and lessons learned to support future product iterations.

• Apply structured problem-solving methodologies to investigate manufacturing, assembly, and integration issues, supporting root cause analysis and corrective actions.

• Identify manufacturing risks early and drive mitigation actions to improve product quality, reliability, and production readiness.

• Provide technical input on producibility, tolerances, assembly methods, tooling requirements, and manufacturing feasibility during design reviews and development activities.

• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by enhancing manufacturing methods, assembly processes, tooling approaches, and development workflows while sharing knowledge and best practices across the organization.

Why Join Us?

• Join one of Europe’s most promising deep-tech scale-ups.

• Shape the future of a rapidly growing multidisciplinary R&D organization.

• Competitive salary and benefits package.

• Enjoy regular team activities and company events.

• Fresh team lunches provided3 times/ week.

What You'll Bring:

• BSc or MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related technical discipline. 

• 5+ years of experience in prototype development, manufacturing engineering, product realization, or multidisciplinary product development environments. 

• Experience supporting prototype builds, assembly processes, and manufacturing activities. 

• Strong understanding of Design for Manufacturing (DfM), Design for Assembly (DfA), and product industrialization principles. 

• Experience interpreting engineering drawings, CAD models, product structures, and manufacturing documentation. 

• Familiarity with machining, sheet metal fabrication, electronics assembly, additive manufacturing, or system integration processes. 

• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills. 

• Ability to coordinate activities across engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain stakeholders. 

• Strong communication skills and collaborative working style. 

• Experience working with suppliers and manufacturing partners is advantageous. 

• Eligible for EU/NATO security clearance. 

Nice to have:

• Experience supporting pilot production or manufacturing transfer activities. 

• Experience with configuration management and engineering change processes. 

• Experience working in high-tech product development environments. 

• Familiarity with systems engineering and multidisciplinary product development practices.

You'll be working with clients in the defense and security sectors, obtaining a Certificate of No Objection issued by the AIVD (Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service) is mandatory. This means you will need to undergo a security screening. For more information, please refer to details on security screening. 

More information 

So now you know we're doing awesome projects and if you see you fit the profile we would like to get to know you. Apply or, in case of questions, get in touch with our recruiter Dóra Öveges ( dora.oveges@optics11.com).