Remotehey

About the Company

Trine Energy is a UK based early stage startup developing products for transmission of electrical power (1MW+) using power of fiber (PoF) as the core technology. PoF is already in use in many industries. However the power used in those applications are in milliwatts. Our power transmission target is orders of magnitude higher. It is a challenging yet exciting problem to solve.

We are working on the hypothesis that the production of power is a solved problem. Solar and wind based energy production has been rapidly scaling since the start of the century. In fact there is too much generation of solar and wind power in many European countries leading to curtailment and negative spot price of electricity. Renaissance of fission nuclear reactors and the advancements in fusion means there will be no shortage of electrical power. The challenge will be to distribute that power at a national and global scale. Today, the only option of distributing electrical power over distance is the power grid. It works, but just. It is a super old technology. It takes immense effort to build or expand, and is costly to maintain. According to various studies, ~$1 Trillion of annual investment is needed globally to upgrade and expand the grid networks to reach net zero target by 2050. Governments don’t have fiscal capacity to make such investments. It has not seen any real innovation for a very long time and there is none on the horizon to significantly reduce the cost. It gets unstable when there is too much intermittent power in the mix, which goes against the global drive for energy transition. It is fragmented, and has no global scale. 

Laser and fiber optic, in comparison, are modern technologies, enjoying rapid innovation. Both are highly flexible products. They have many interesting properties that electricity and power cables don’t have. They can be produced in significantly higher volumes and are easy to deploy. Their cost and performance are improving at Moore’s law scale. This opens the opportunity for us to build products and become an alternative to specific use cases that are easier to develop and implement in the near term, such as providing power redundancy using short distance transmission (<5km) to critical infrastructure such as defense systems and data centers. It is also possible to deliver electrical power as thermal energy for commercial and industrial heating. The long term goal is to create a global network of power, much like the internet, where producers and end users can connect instantly and seamlessly using our technology. The products that solve the energy distribution problem at a global scale have the potential to define a new industry.

Our plan is to combine technologies from different fields of science and engineering such as high power diode and fiber lasers, specialised fiber optic, power over fiber, and thermal photovoltaic cells to achieve the goal. By using technologies that are already invented and commercialised, and pushing the boundaries of engineering and finance to create a product that solves one of the biggest energy transition bottlenecks, is a mission worth pursuing.

About the Role

The role of the Photonics Engineer is to do deep dives into the physics of laser-fiber interactions and generate insights for designing the system. A variety of laser properties and fiber properties have to be iterated to understand how the system will perform. The core analysis will primarily involve simulating the optical performance of the system for various laser power input levels, wavelengths, temporal and spatial shapes of the beam, and modes in combination with different types of fibers of different physical properties and length. Secondary effects such as heat and mechanical stress, degradation profile etc will also be a part of the analyses. The candidate will participate in the development of hypotheses, assumptions and scenarios for the simulations and generate data for analyses. 

We are building a product that has no equivalent in the real world. Those who are imaginative, first principle thinkers and can shape discussions with a strong grasp of the subject matter will thrive in this role. The candidate is required to be a self starter, resourceful, problem solver, take the ownership of work and be optimised for speed and output generation. The candidate needs to be an obsessive note taker, document and chart builder. The candidate needs to have a strong technical grasp and intuitive understanding of the results to distinguish false positives and false negatives. The candidate will work closely with other members of the company, and have frequent interactions with vendors, suppliers, academia and target customers.

Responsibilities

• Participate in system architecture and design, developing first-principles, physics-based simulation models for high-power optical fiber propagation, capturing nonlinear, multimode, and scaling phenomena in solid-core and hollow-core fibers.
• Develop, validate and maintain multiphysics simulation models, including electromagnetic and coupled optical-thermal-mechanical effects.
• Build and apply linearization methods such as reduced-order and surrogate models.
• Perform parameter sweeps and trade-space analyses to compare system architectures and scaling limits.
• Translate simulation results into system-level insights and design recommendations that inform early technical decisions.
• Rigorously document models, assumptions, and results, ensuring traceability from governing equations to simulation outputs, and supporting internal reviews and external collaboration.
• Design and validate models from first principles, define appropriate simplifications, and sanity‑check results against analytical estimates, experimental or literature data.
• Incorporate noisy, incomplete and vendor component data (supplier specs, measurements) into simulation frameworks.
• Work closely with the product manager and engineering team to inform system-level design decisions.
• Communicate technical results clearly, both written and verbal, and collaborate effectively in cross-functional R&D teams.

Trine follows a simulation-first development approach. System architecture, scaling limits, and design trade-offs are evaluated through physics-based modeling and simulation before hardware implementation. This role is central to shaping those models and ensuring technical decisions are grounded in first principles.

What we are looking for

Must haves:

• MSc, PhD or Postdoctoral experience in Physics, Photonics, or a closely related field
• Strong foundation in optical physics and electromagnetics, with experience in modeling one or more of the following:
• a- Linear and nonlinear optical propagation in free space and waveguides
• b- Mode theory, optical coupling, and modal interactions
• c- FEM-based electromagnetic simulations, including mode solving and nonlinear propagation
• d- Mathematical formulation and numerical solution of Maxwell-based PDEs, eigenvalue problems, and nonlinear ODE/PDE systems (e.g. Kerr, SRS, SBS)
• Hands-on experience with physics-based modeling and simulation using Python, commercial multiphysics tools (e.g. COMSOL, Ansys or similar) and MATLAB
• Experience setting up and running simulations on high-performance computing platforms, including distributed CPU/GPU environments (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Nvidia HPC and similar)
• Practical experience with laboratory setups, including diode lasers, high-power fiber lasers, and laser propagation in large-core or specialty fibers (MMF, PCF, HCF)
• Experience working with laser and optical fiber suppliers, interpreting product specifications, and defining technical requirements
• Ability to work from first principles in a fast-moving startup R&D environment with evolving requirements

Nice to haves:

• Familiarity with version control and collaborative tooling (e.g., GitHub, JuliaHub)
• Experience working on product-oriented R&D or engineering teams
• Collaboration with external labs or academic–industry partnerships.
• Experience with AI tools for modeling and simulation: surrogate modelling, neural networks, reinforcement learning, synthetic data generation, reduced order model
• Knowledge of high-power laser safety, reliability modeling, or failure-mode analysis.
• Experience in early-stage startups or research environments where tooling, documentation, and processes are built from scratch

We do not expect candidates to have expertise in every area listed above; strength in first-principles modeling and the ability to reason across domains is more important.

What We Offer

The role is open to both UK and non-UK based candidates. This is a full-time role. For the right candidates, we are open to a part-time start and gradual move to full-time. Initially the role shall be remote but will become hybrid within the year 2026 once a physical office location is finalized.

This is an opportunity to work on a game-changing energy distribution system with massive global impact. The role will have high visibility, travel, participation in industry events, and an opportunity to work with top OEMs, academia, labs and customers. Besides competitive compensation, the company will provide a private healthcare plan for self and family, opportunity to participate in employee stock plan and long-term growth.