Senior Research Engineer, Light & Brain

If you’ve worn a pair of glasses, we’ve already met.

We are a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames, and sunglasses. We offer our industry stakeholders in over 150 countries access to a global platform of high-quality vision care products such as the Essilor brand, with Varilux, Crizal, Eyezen, Stellest and Transitions, iconic brands that consumers love such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol and Oliver Peoples, as well as a network that offers consumers high-quality vision care and best-in-class shopping experiences such as Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, and Target Optical, and leading e-commerce platforms.

Our unique business model and relentless pursuit of operational excellence ensures that consumers everywhere have access to products. Balancing speed, efficiency and proximity, the Company manages a global supply chain with cutting-edge technology, based on centralization for frames and on a capillary network for lens finishing and prescription laboratories. In our dynamic environment, fueled by technology and innovation, our people have the space to pioneer new solutions.

Join our global community of over 200,000 dedicated employees around the world in driving the transformation of the eyewear and eyecare industry. Discover more by following us on LinkedIn!

Company description

As part of its new ambition, EssilorLuxottica aims to position itself as an integrated MedTech platform, strengthening its leadership in Vision Health and leveraging the visual system as a source of biological and functional information. This approach supports the development of new products and services dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, and prediction of ocular and systemic diseases, within a personalized, preventive, data-driven paradigm grounded in neuroscience, digital health and artificial intelligence.

Team description

The Neuroscience & Medical Research department designs upstream innovations across several strategic domains for the Group. This work is built on robust scientific validation and transversal innovation initiatives at the interface of biomedical research, digital technologies, and medical devices.
The Light Research team develops expertise on light-biology interactions across three complementary research domains: the visual system, non-image-forming brain functions, and photobiomodulation at the cellular and tissue level. In the Light Research team, the present role focuses on the effects of light operating independently of conscious visual perception — circadian entrainment, alertness, sleep, cognitive performance, and their emerging links to neurodegeneration — mediated primarily through ipRGCs and melanopsin signaling from the retina to the brain.

We are seeking a highly motivated Senior Research Engineer with a strong background in physics and optical engineering, hands-on expertise in biosignal acquisition and integration, and a solid command of the scientific landscape of non-image-forming effects of light on the brain.

ABOUT YOU

At EssilorLuxottica we value honest and transparent communication. We understand that effective and versatile teams are created by bringing together high-performing individuals with diverse backgrounds and enabling them to grow and deliver through a collaborative spirit and reflective exploration. If you recognize yourself in this, welcome to the ride.

Essential Requirements & Qualifications

• PhD in physics, optics, or biophysics — or equivalent engineering degree with significant hands-on experience in light-biology research in an industrial or academic R&D context.
• Post-doctoral academic or R&D experience (at least 3 years) in applied physics or photonics in a life-science or biomedical science context or related fields.
• Strong expertise in light characterization, photobiological metrics, and measurement.
• Significant experience with hardware/software integration for biosignal acquisition in experimental settings: ability to design and run setups combining controlled light stimulation with simultaneous recording of biosignals such as EEG, EOG, eye-tracking, galvanic skin response, or similar.
• Strong programming skills in Python and/or MATLAB, C/C++/C# (at least 5 years): experience writing code for device synchronization, real-time data acquisition pipelines, and biosignal processing.
• Experience with temporal synchronization of light delivery systems and biosignal acquisition devices, ensuring accurate event marking across modalities and strong background in data analysis.
• Experience running human experimental protocols involving light exposure and psychophysiological or neurophysiological measurements, ideally with patients in clinical environments.
• Strong knowledge of the non-image-forming effects of light on human physiology and brain function: circadian entrainment (ipRGCs, melanopsin, SCN), acute alerting and cognitive effects, and emerging evidence on light and neurodegenerative risk.
• Independent work with a high level of scientific rigor and quality awareness.
• A positive and solution-oriented mindset.
• Proficiency in English, both written and verbal (scientific communication).
• Experience supervising or mentoring at least one junior researcher, engineer, or PhD student, at the interface of physics-biology.

The ideal candidate will have

• Familiarity with machine learning approaches applied to biosignal processing and physiological data (e.g. classification of cognitive or circadian states from EEG, EOG, eye-tracking, or multimodal signals).
• Connectivity with the international scientific community in light-biology and non-image-forming-related fields; ability to disseminate research findings in scientific venues (conferences, publications).
• A publication record in relevant fields (optics, biophotonics, biosignal processing, neuroscience, or light-biology) and/or participation in key scientific communities.
• Experience with wearable light-logging devices and real-world light environment characterization.
• Experience in clinical or human-subject research protocols related to light and circadian health, cognitive performance, or neurodegenerative risk. Previous experience in the design and implementation of clinical trials.
• Previous experience working in an industrial R&D context or neurotech / medtech company.
• Proven ability to identify research questions with commercialization prospects and design studies to address them.