Manager Engineering FSO

Delft Staff & Management Lead / senior

Are you a proactive team player with a track record in managing and facilitating highly educated and specialized engineers? Then you are the manager engineering we’re looking for!

Imagine a world where data flows instantly between earth and space, providing real-time access to life-saving services and strengthening global security with unbreakable communication lines. This is the future we are building.

About Demcon

FSO Instruments is at the forefront of developing advanced laser satellite communication technology. Together with our partners and shareholders we are committed to strengthening the Dutch space industry and pushing the boundaries of communication systems to enable faster, more reliable, and secure connections between satellites, airplanes, drones and ground stations. By pushing the boundaries of what is achievable, we are shaping the future of space communication, both locally and globally.

FSO Instruments develops and manufactures optical-communication components, sub-systems, and terminals. We have strong heritage in Semiconductor and Aerospace, and bring this to optical communications:

• Developing and engineering of laser communication terminals
• Modular and standardized functional (sub-)systems for laser communication
• High tech contract manufacturing expertise for cost-effective high-volume production

At FSO Instruments we work closely with dedicated partners for development and supply, as well as with our parent companies to ensure we achieve the most competitive products for the market for optical communications in space.

What are you going to do?

Primary responsibility: Build and maintain a high-performing engineering organization and ensure engineering work is executed efficiently and consistently.

About the Role

As Manager Engineering, you will manage a dynamic community of around one hundred engineers who develop state‑of‑the‑art space instruments. In this role, you create an environment where people feel supported, trusted, and inspired to do meaningful work. You guide the organization through growth and people in their personal growth, ensuring that engineering execution remains clear, consistent, and sustainable.

Leading People & Growing Talent

A large part of your impact comes from the way you nurture the team. You take an active role in hiring new colleagues and ensuring their onboarding feels personal and welcoming. You support engineers in developing their skills, exploring new opportunities, and shaping their career paths. Performance conversations become moments to understand ambitions, celebrate strengths, and identify growth areas. You ensure workloads are balanced and that individuals feel empowered and appreciated.

Ensuring Engineering Excellence

You help create clarity: clarity in processes, clarity in expectations, and clarity in the way we work together. As the organization scales, you ensure that our engineering teams follow consistent standards. You support engineers by removing obstacles and making sure documentation, knowledge safeguarding, and review discipline are part of the natural rhythm of the organization. You also maintain the balance between the engineering needs of FSO and those of our shareholder companies VDL and DEMCON.

Connecting Teams & Translating Needs

You act as an essential bridge between engineering and the broader organization. Program needs coming from operations translate through you into clear, feasible engineering plans. You keep an eye on capacity, making sure commitments are realistic and the team has what it needs to deliver. Your ability to build relationships, communicate clearly, and create shared understanding makes you a trusted partner across departments.

Your Decision Space

Within this role, you have decision authority over staffing and resource allocation, engineering processes and tooling. While final technical decisions lie with content experts, you shape the environment that enables excellent engineering to happen.

Why This Role Matters

This position is ideal for someone who loves building strong teams, shaping a positive culture, and enabling people to thrive. It combines leadership, strategy, and real human connection — all in service of creating commercial products at the forefront of technology.

What do you bring to the table?

• You have a degree at the level of higher professional education in a relevant discipline (for example MSc in Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering).
• 3-8 years’ experience as an line manager in an R&D environment, preferably in a complex network organization.
• Your passion is to lead, guide, manage and facilitate highly educated people.
• You enjoy bringing consistency, stability and a framework that the company can build on, now and in the future.
• You are enthusiastic, flexible and show initiative and perseverance.
• You are pragmatic, can work with a large degree of independence and show initiative in building the company.
• You have good command of the English language in word and writing. Good command of the Dutch language is preferable but not mandatory.
• You are ambitious, solution-oriented and a team player.

What do we offer you?

At FSO Instruments we have a ‘flat’ organization where people can easily find and help each other. We value a comfortable and inclusive workplace.

Furthermore, you can count on, among other things:

• A good, market-based salary.
• 31 days off and 8% vacation allowance.
• Possibility to work from home, maximum 2 days a week.
• A good pension plan at Zwitserleven.
• The opportunity to follow training and courses, or externally, so you can further develop your knowledge.
• A laptop and mobile phone from work.
• Bicycle plan.