Optical Manufacturing Engineer

Optical Manufacturing Engineer

G&H is a world leader in optical designing, testing and manufacturing. As experts in the technology of light, G&H works with customers to provide optical systems, assemblies, and components for demanding applications.

Headquartered in Ilminster Somerset, UK with primary operations in the USA and Europe, G&H is recognized for the breadth of their acousto-optic, electro-optic, crystal-optic, fiber optic, and precision optic products. G&H is recognized as the preferred source for OEMs in the life sciences, industrial, and aerospace and defense industries, with a history of quality and excellence that dates back over seventy-five years.

The Optical Manufacturing Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for optical systems manufacturing within the Keene operation. As the site's highest-level manufacturing engineering subject matter expert, this role is responsible for defining, optimizing, and scaling manufacturing processes that enable the successful production of complex optical systems and assemblies.

Operating as a hands-on technical leader and individual contributor, the Optical Manufacturing Engineer provides leadership across manufacturing readiness, process capability, new product introduction, supplier qualification, quality improvement, and operational excellence initiatives. This individual is expected to influence business outcomes through deep technical expertise, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration.

The role is responsible for ensuring manufacturing processes are robust, repeatable, scalable, and capable of meeting customer, quality, delivery, and financial objectives while supporting the flexibility required in a high-mix, low-volume engineered manufacturing environment.

This position serves as a key technical advisor to Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Leadership teams and is expected to anticipate manufacturing risks, identify opportunities for improvement, and drive long-term capability development across the site.

Responsibilities & Performance Measures:

• Serve as the technical authority for optical systems manufacturing, providing expert guidance on manufacturing methods, process capability, scalability, and operational readiness.
• Own manufacturing engineering strategy for complex optical systems and assemblies, ensuring processes support business growth, customer requirements, and operational objectives.
• Define and maintain manufacturing standards, process controls, routings, work instructions, and best practices that drive consistency, quality, and throughput.
• Lead manufacturing readiness assessments for new products, engineering changes, and technology transfers, ensuring all production requirements are established prior to release.
• Partner closely with Product Development teams to influence product design for manufacturability, producibility, reliability, and cost optimization.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on quality, throughput, capacity, labor efficiency, yield improvement, and cost reduction.
• Lead complex root cause investigations and corrective action activities using structured problem-solving methodologies and data-driven decision making.
• Establish and monitor key manufacturing process metrics, identifying trends and proactively implementing improvements to improve operational performance.
• Provide technical leadership during production escalations, customer concerns, supplier issues, and quality investigations.
• Evaluate, develop, and qualify manufacturing technologies, equipment, tooling, suppliers, and processes that improve capability and competitiveness.
• Lead supplier manufacturing and process qualification efforts, including audits, First Article Inspections, process validation activities, and supplier corrective actions.
• Champion best practices for optical measurement systems, calibration methods, process validation, and manufacturing controls throughout the product lifecycle.
• Assess manufacturing risks associated with new technologies, process changes, engineering changes, and product mix variations and develop mitigation strategies.
• Influence cross-functional…