Technical Manager - Optical R&D F/H

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Published on 24/06/2025

  • Contract type:  Permanent contract

  • Work time:  Full time

  • Location Rennes

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 150 employees, including 35 PhDs. 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

After ten years of R&D experience in a demanding industrial environment, are you seeking greater impact and responsibility?

Join a team of engineers and PhD holders where collective enthusiasm fuels technological advances.

You will take technical responsibility for ambitious free-space optical communications projects (laser links from ground to satellite, long-range transmissions, etc.), a demanding, scientifically rich, and fast-growing field. As the technical reference, you will be involved at the heart of upstream research and design phases to define the architecture of future optical systems. You will play a key role in leveraging technical solutions, reducing risks, and structuring critical building blocks before handing them off to development teams.

 

Your responsibilities include:

 

  • Defining technical directions from the earliest project phases, exploring innovative concepts and ensuring their scientific feasibility;
  • Designing, prototyping, and testing complex subsystems (optics, instrumentation, interfaces), in line with performance and integration requirements;
  • Structuring developments with an interdisciplinary systems approach, collaborating closely with experts in mechanics, electronics, software, etc.;
  • Documenting and capitalizing on technical results obtained (reports, technical notes, project documentation), with an emphasis on clarity and traceability to facilitate uptake by development teams;
  • Preparing and ensuring technical transfer to internal development teams, who then take over to mature (increase TRL) and industrialize the building blocks;
  • Collaborating with external partners and managing technical subcontractors when necessary.

Profile required

With an engineering degree or a PhD in optics, you have a proven track record (10 years or more) in R&D within a technology-intensive industrial environment.

You demonstrate:

  • Solid expertise in free-space optics, instrumentation, and hands-on experimental work
  • Ability to analyze, model, and structure complex technical challenges at the outset of a project;
  • Aptitude for interfacing with other disciplines (mechanics, electronics, software) and coordinating expert contributors;
  • A taste for knowledge sharing and technical mentoring of engineers in their development phase;
  • Proficiency with simulation or control tools (Python, MATLAB, C, etc.) and rigor in data handling;
  • Ease communicating in English, both written and spoken, in collaborative project environments.

 

By joining Cailabs, you will find:

  • The opportunity to take part in an amazing human adventure, working with colleagues who share a strong team spirit built on challenge, intellectual stimulation, and responsiveness;
  • The possibility to join a dynamic organization combining agility with the resources to match its ambitions;
  • A cutting-edge technology company, from prototype development through industrialization phases.

And also:

  • Moments of sharing and conviviality (annual seminar, meals, group games, sports activities, etc.);
  • 100% covered health insurance;
  • A bonus system rewarding collective and individual performance;
  • Joining Cailabs also means the assurance that everything will be put in place to help you perform, grow, and tackle new challenges.

 

 

 

Required languages

  • English English - Level advanced

Réf: d5e846d4-d196-4b16-b206-89873fc2048b

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Technical Manager - Optical R&D F/H

Permanent contract
Full time
Rennes

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