Harper Evans Recruitment
Laser Engineer

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Laser Engineer
London | £75,000 – £100,000 + Equity | Relocation Support Available
An exciting opportunity to join a venture-backed, early-stage deep-tech company on a mission to redefine next-generation computing hardware. This is a chance to be the technical authority on a critical piece of deep-tech, owning the laser technology from first principles through to fabrication, and working directly with the founders from an early stage.
The package includes a salary of circa £75,000–£100,000, plus a meaningful equity stake in the company. Relocation support.
Your Role
You will lead the development of advanced semiconductor laser devices, with a particular focus on VCSEL and cavity design, taking concepts from simulation through to wafer fabrication, characterisation and product integration.
- Designing and modelling semiconductor laser cavities: DBR structures, resonance engineering, aperture design, mode control
- Running optical, electrical and thermal simulations to push performance, efficiency and reliability
- Modelling carrier transport, gain, threshold behaviour and self-heating
- Building dynamic models for modulation, switching speed, noise and energy consumption
- Hunting down and eliminating loss mechanisms across the device
- Running tolerance and yield analysis before anything goes near production
- Partnering closely with fabrication and epitaxy teams on process development
- Validating simulation against real device data: LIV, spectral, near-field, far-field, time-resolved
- Building your own simulation workflows and tools where the off-the-shelf ones fall short
Reasons to use Rodeo
I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
Honest answer — it depends on where you want to end up. A lot of top grad schemes (Big 4, civil service, banking) don’t need a masters. Let’s look at the ones you’d be competitive for now, and we can decide if a masters actually adds anything.
Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
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Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
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You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
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What You'll Bring
- A PhD (or equivalent industry depth) in semiconductor lasers, optoelectronics or photonics
- Strong semiconductor laser design experience, ideally with VCSELs
- A track record of validating models against real-world measurement
- Fluency in tools like Lumerical, COMSOL, Sentaurus, Silvaco, PICS3D, RSoft, MEEP or in-house equivalents
- Strong Python for simulation, automation and analysis
Desirable Experience
- Oxide, proton implant or tunnel-junction confinement experience
- Polarisation dynamics, injection locking or coupled-cavity systems
- Foundry or epitaxy partner relationships
- Inverse design or ML-assisted photonic modelling
- Hands-on lab characterisation of devices you designed yourself


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Why This Role
- If you decide to take this position, you will have genuine ownership, with direct access and collaboration with an experienced founding team
- This is a chance to grow your expertise, your influence and your career as the company itself scales, with genuine scope to develop into a broader leadership position over time
- Competitive salary, meaningful equity and relocation support to London
Interview Process
The process begins with an initial Teams interview with Sharon at Harper Evans Recruitment, followed by a Teams interview with the founders and a final face-to-face meeting.
This role is being advertised by Harper Evans Recruitment acting as Recruitment Business.
Harper Evans Recruitment believe that diverse teams create stronger businesses. We are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our recruitment process and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. We're committed to ensuring every candidate has a fair and positive experience.
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