Head of Product Development Engineer F/H

The company

Founded in 2013, Cailabs designs, manufactures, and develops innovative photonic solutions for the space, industry, telecommunications, and defense sectors. A global specialist in laser shaping, the company has accelerated its growth in the space field with turnkey optical ground stations that integrate atmospheric turbulence compensation technology. This makes it one of the first companies to harness very high data rates enabled by optics in a commercial ground station.

Cailabs currently has 170 employees, including 40PhDs. With 29 patent families filed, the company is one of the most innovative companies in France. It is headquartered in Rennes, with offices in Paris and Washington (USA).

Post description

Do you have a strong drive to lead rigorous technical processes and contribute to the development of cutting-edge systems? Join CAILABS as Head of Optical Development and become the key person responsible for development (TRL maturation of building blocks) and the industrialization of optical components and subsystems for OGS and other Cailabs product lines!

Join Cailabs!

Reporting to the Technical Department at our Rennes site, your role is to structure and develop the optical division to support CAILABS’ growth, while maintaining technical excellence and optimizing resource allocation across global strategic projects.
You will manage the Optical Development team (7 to 10 optical engineers) and lead continuous improvement initiatives within the team.

As Manager of the Optical Engineering team dedicated to product development, you play a pivotal role in structuring the team, driving performance, and developing skills. You oversee the design, development, validation, and industrialization of optical subsystems, while providing close support to expert engineers.

This role combines technical leadership, team management, product development oversight, strategic vision, and continuous improvement.

In this context, your responsibilities will include:

• Building the roadmap for the Optical Development division in alignment with the company’s strategy, providing a clear vision of technical expertise to support the development of all products
• Managing, leading, and supporting a team of experts (currently 7 engineers, expected to grow to 8–10 by 2026)
• Recruiting, engaging, and developing team members, monitoring their progress and ensuring consistency of practices across disciplines
• Working closely with managers and technical leads from other teams to coordinate workload, priorities, and knowledge sharing
• Monitoring and improving productivity and industrialization challenges in optical activities
• Defining, optimizing, and documenting internal processes (development methods, experimental practices, best practices, and standards) within a cross-functional continuous improvement approach
• Identifying risks, escalating issues, proposing action plans, and contributing directly to problem-solving
• Assessing and optimizing the allocation of human and/or material resources across technical projects
• Leading technology watch activities and sharing expertise and best practices through communication materials (center of expertise)
• Monitoring and developing intellectual property topics (patents, confidentiality, etc.)
• Reporting to the Technical Department: progress, risks, trade-offs, and key performance indicators
• Ensuring efficient organization of optical projects and maintaining the technical quality of deliverables (prototype → pre-series → industrialization)

Profile required

The technical skills and soft skills expected for this position are :

• You hold an engineering degree with a specialization in optics/photonics.
• You have at least 8 to 10 years of experience in (optical) product development, and a minimum of 5 years as Head of an engineering department or workshop in an optical environment, ideally gained in a deep tech SME or a similar setting.
• You have an excellent understanding of industrialization challenges and transfer to operations, with a global view of the product development lifecycle.
• You have proven managerial experience, leading teams with diverse profiles (from junior to senior experts).
• You are recognized for your leadership, commitment, strong team spirit, pragmatism, agility, flexibility, and adaptability.
• You have strong communication skills and are comfortable collaborating with various departments in an innovation-driven, product development environment.
• You are able to embody and promote the company culture internally.
• You have a good level of English (written and spoken).

By joining Cailabs, you will find:

• The opportunity to take part in an incredible human adventure, working alongside colleagues who share a strong team spirit built on challenge, intellectual stimulation, and responsiveness;
• The chance to join a dynamic organization that combines agility with resources aligned with its ambitions;
• A cutting-edge technology company involved in every stage, from prototype development to industrialization phase.

Benefits:

• Regular opportunities for team bonding and social events (annual seminar, team lunches, group games, sports activities, etc.);
• 100% employer-covered health insurance;
• A bonus scheme rewarding both collective and individual performance;
• Joining Cailabs also means having the assurance that everything will be put in place to help you perform, grow, and take on new challenges.

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