Would you like to be at the heart of developing innovative and transformative ideas? Are you interested in being part of a team that identifies how space technology can address UK and global societal challenges? Do you want a Photonics position which will make a real difference? If so, you may be who we’re looking for!

We are currently seeking a Senior Scientific Advisor - Photonics to work with our CTO Team. We are looking for an enthusiastic subject matter expert, you will be able to influence the vision, concepts and thought leadership in the domain of photonics and shape the research activities across a broad range of photonics activities within collaborative projects.

We have a hybrid working environment with our principal offices in Harwell Oxfordshire, the role may require travel to other offices in the UK.

Key Responsibilities

• Establish test facilities and labs for optical & photonics systems and subsystems and ensuring that the capability exist to support customers effectively.

• Attend advisory boards/steering groups to ensure Catapult representation and influence with academic and industry for a and standard bodies.

• Develop and sustain relationships with business and academic partners for development of key technologies, and evangelising new concepts.

• Work with external teams to direct the research into areas that benefit the sector.

• Envision concepts and developing candidate architectures to be evaluated in detail within collaborative projects.

• Engineer solutions to deliver both commercial success and economic impact.

• Ensure solutions consider how knowledge and IP can best be structured to enable the Catapult to most effectively grow our sector and economic impact.

• Negotiate agreements, policies and frameworks with relevant stakeholders that impact the programme.

• Monitor operational effectiveness of own area and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

• Bring a very broad and deep knowledge and experience of shaping development solutions across the programme

You will develop solutions for a wide range of requirements including:

• Space Communications

• QKD

• Space Monitoring & Observation

• Signal Processing & Computing

• Space based PV generation

Skills & Experience required

• Degree or higher in a relevant discipline with technical expertise.

• Extensive experience of working in sector with knowledge of industrial processes.

• Leading technology research and development in at least one discipline in the domain of photonics.

• Creation of synthetic environments for simulation of complex systems.

• Skilled in photonic design, optical processing and optical communications design methodologies.

• Evangelising and presenting to internal and external customers

• Mentoring and educating graduates, interns and non-scientific colleagues

How we work

We strive to create a high trust environment that enables team members to bring their whole selves to work – this helps to create the foundations of an innovation culture.
Our shared values are critical to this:

• We care - for our people, our partners, and our planet

• We connect - and engage with people and ideas

• We learn - and grow, as people and as an industry

Underpinning this is our belief in great teams, our combined efforts will always deliver outcomes beyond that of any individual providing we are honest through debate, experiment and reflect, and create shared resolutions in support of our purpose. Live these values, work to our principles, take ownership to deliver, and we are certain you will thrive with us.

This job description set outs the skills and experience we believe are needed to be able to do this job but, research also tells us women are much more likely than men to take this list of requirements as absolute and self-select out of the process. If you think you can deliver this role then we want to hear from you, regardless of the boxes you didn’t tick.