Flat Optics R&D Engineer (Nanophotonics)

Location: Leuven, Belgium

Company

hirify.global is a research center in nanotechnology focused on advanced manufacturing, materials, process technology, lithography, and emerging optical systems.

What you will do

• Design and optimize metasurfaces for sensing, imaging, VR/AR, and optical I/O applications.
• Develop numerical models and simulation pipelines using FDTD, RCWA, ray tracing, FEM, and inverse-design methods.
• Collaborate with integration and nanofabrication teams to prototype and validate metasurface designs.
• Integrate metasurfaces with integrated photonic circuits, free-space optics, and semiconductor platforms.
• Perform optical-table characterization, analyze experimental data, and iterate designs to improve performance.

Requirements

• PhD or Master’s degree in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong expertise in nanophotonics, metasurfaces, and computational electromagnetics.
• Experience with Lumerical, Comsol, Meep, Zemax, or in-house simulation frameworks.
• Experience generating GDS files for fabrication.
• Hands-on experience building optical setups and performing precise characterization.
• Proficiency in Python or similar coding languages, with experience in version control and documentation.
• Ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams and communicate technical results effectively.
• Detail-oriented approach, critical-thinking and decision-making skills, adaptability across projects or research topics, and a focus on customer satisfaction and high-quality results.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with nanofabrication techniques such as lithography, etching, and deposition.
• Experience designing or characterizing integrated photonic technologies.

Culture & Benefits

• Open, multicultural, informal working environment with opportunities to take initiative and responsibility.
• Technical and personal development through hirify.global.academy.
• Market-appropriate salary with fringe benefits.
• Work with global partners on impactful nanophotonics and optical-system projects.