Photonics Engineer

About the Company

Trine Energy is a UK based early stage startup developing products for transmission of electrical power (1MW+) using power of fiber (PoF) as the core technology. PoF is already in use in many industries. However the power used in those applications are in milliwatts. Our power transmission target is orders of magnitude higher. It is a challenging yet exciting problem to solve.

We are working on the hypothesis that the production of power is a solved problem. Solar and wind based energy production has been rapidly scaling since the start of the century. In fact there is too much generation of solar and wind power in many European countries leading to curtailment and negative spot price of electricity. Renaissance of fission nuclear reactors and the advancements in fusion means there will be no shortage of electrical power. The challenge will be to distribute that power at a national and global scale. Today, the only option of distributing electrical power over distance is the power grid. It works, but just. It is a super old technology. It takes immense effort to build or expand, and is costly to maintain. According to various studies, ~$1 Trillion of annual investment is needed globally to upgrade and expand the grid networks to reach net zero target by 2050. Governments don’t have fiscal capacity to make such investments. It has not seen any real innovation for a very long time and there is none on the horizon to significantly reduce the cost. It gets unstable when there is too much intermittent power in the mix, which goes against the global drive for energy transition. It is fragmented, and has no global scale.

Laser and fiber optic, in comparison, are modern technologies, enjoying rapid innovation. Both are highly flexible products. They have many interesting properties that electricity and power cables don’t have. They can be produced in significantly higher volumes and are easy to deploy. Their cost and performance are improving at Moore’s law scale. This opens the opportunity for us to build products and become an alternative to specific use cases that are easier to develop and implement in the near term, such as providing power redundancy using short distance transmission (<5km) to critical infrastructure such as defense systems and data centers. It is also possible to deliver electrical power as thermal energy for commercial and industrial heating. The long term goal is to create a global network of power, much like the internet, where producers and end users can connect instantly and seamlessly using our technology. The products that solve the energy distribution problem at a global scale have the potential to define a new industry.

Our plan is to combine technologies from different fields of science and engineering such as high power diode and fiber lasers, specialised fiber optic, power over fiber, and thermal photovoltaic cells to achieve the goal. By using technologies that are already invented and commercialised, and pushing the boundaries of engineering and finance to create a product that solves one of the biggest energy transition bottlenecks, is a mission worth pursuing.

About the role

The Photonics Engineer is the engineering lead for high‑power optical delivery at Trine. You will own how multi‑kilowatt to megawatt‑class optical power is generated, guided through fibers and cables, and delivered reliably over 1–100 km. This is a hands‑on, system‑facing role that bridges simulations, suppliers, and early hardware.

• Own the high‑power optical delivery path: define fiber types (MMF, LMA, PCF, HCF), core sizes, fiber counts per cable, and operating points for CW power over long distances.
• Translate optical and multiphysics simulation results into practical design rules: power per fiber, safe operating areas, bend and routing limits, splicing strategy, and safety margins.
• Design and iterate fiber bundle and cabling concepts for underground/undersea deployment, balancing attenuation, thermal limits, reliability, installation, and maintenance.
• Specify, evaluate, and qualify lasers and fiber components from OEMs and fiber manufacturers; define technical requirements and compare architectures against performance, operational, and cost KPIs.
• Prototype and test early subsystems (delivery rigs, test fibers, connectors, sample cables), define test plans, and feed measurements back into models and design decisions.
• Work closely with product, research, and simulation colleagues to align the delivery architecture with near‑term use cases (defence redundancy, data centers, industrial heat) and the scaling roadmap.
• Create clear documentation of architectures, assumptions, trade‑offs, and test results that can be shared with suppliers, partners, and future team members.

What we are looking for in the candidate

• B.E./Tech, M.E/Tech, MSc or PhD in Physics, Photonics, Optical Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Hands‑on experience with high‑power fiber delivery: large‑core or specialty fibers (e.g., MMF, LMA, PCF, HCF) at ≥100 W CW, ideally into the kW range.
• Solid understanding of nonlinear and damage mechanisms in fibers (e.g., SRS, SBS, thermal damage, fiber fuse) and how they scale with power, length, and core size.
• Experience configuring or integrating industrial diode or fiber lasers and their delivery fibers (end caps, collimators, connectors, safety interlocks).
• Working proficiency with Python and at least one simulation environment (in‑house codes, COMSOL, Ansys, or similar) for analyzing propagation and basic thermal effects.
• Comfort making design trade‑offs with incomplete data, iterating quickly, and owning decisions in a small, distributed startup team.
• Experience in specialty fiber development or industrialisation (e.g., hollow‑core, PCF), including collaboration with fiber drawing facilities or process engineers.
• Experience taking fiber or laser technologies from lab concept towards standardised product: defining specs, qualification tests, and working with suppliers to meet them.
• Exposure to underground/undersea cable concepts, deployment, or reliability for optical or power cables.
• Experience with coupled optical–thermal–mechanical models for high‑power components and systems.
• Previous work with defence, energy, or data‑center applications that demand high reliability and robust safety engineering.

What we offer

• Remote‑first role, open to UK and non‑UK candidates. Full‑time, with the option to start part‑time and ramp up.
• Opportunity to define how multi‑MW optical power is moved through fibers at scale and to shape a new class of energy‑distribution infrastructure.