Manufacturing Engineer

Are you passionate about life sciences and engineering? Are you excited by the challenge of turning innovative biotech designs into reliable, scalable products? Do you thrive in a hands-on, problem-solving environment where you can drive continuous improvement, tackle complex technical challenges, and help shape the future of medical research and drug development?

If so, Optics11 Life is the place for you!

Who we are

Optics11 Life is a life sciences scale-up headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We develop and manufacture the instruments researchers use to measure what cells sense, so they can make better-informed decisions in drug development. Over 300 instruments are in use worldwide, and our technology underpins more than 800 scientific publications.

Purpose of this role

As a Manufacturing Engineer, you are the technical link between R&D and production, solving challenges at their root to ensure our products can be manufactured reliably, efficiently, and at scale. You drive continuous improvement across assembly, testing, and supply chain processes, strengthening product quality, manufacturability, and long-term reliability while reducing operational and technology risks. As both a technical problem-solver and a driver of production excellence, you help turn innovative designs into robust, scalable products.

Key activities

• Identify and implement design improvements to enhance product manufacturability, reliability and serviceability.

• Lead structured root cause analyses and drive the implementation of lasting corrective and preventive actions.

• Resolve complex supply chain challenges by mitigating single-source and end-of-life component risks and qualifying alternative suppliers.

• Collaborate with R&D to integrate Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfM/DfA) principles into new and existing products.

• Lead technical troubleshooting and resolution of complex assembly and testing issues, acting as the first point of technical escalation across subassemblies, complete instruments and consumables.

• Create, update and maintain maintenance manuals and work instructions to support reliable product servicing.

• Define inspection and test requirements and develop production test plans and setups for incoming and intermediate inspections.

• Create and update maintenance manuals and step-by-step work instructions covering intermediate production stages, product inspection, maintenance, servicing and troubleshooting.

• MSc in Mechanical or Industrial Engineering, or a related field.

• 3–5 years of experience in manufacturing, production, or process engineering in a high-mix, low-volume environment.

• Extensive experience with common test equipment such as oscilloscopes, load cells, flatness tables, micrometers, and optical equipment. 

• Knowledge of mechanical design and 3D CAD modelling, with a working understanding of electrical schematics.

• Hands-on attitude: comfortable on the production floor and at the test bench.

• Experience with structured problem-solving, root cause analysis, supplier management, component qualification, and engineering change control.

• Familiarity with design reviews and stage-gate processes.

• Analytical, structured, and data-driven, with a practical, hands-on approach.

• Clear communicator, able to collaborate across R&D, production, purchasing, and management.

• Fluent in written and spoken English.