Solar Proto Engineer
First seen by Alion on Aug 26, 2026.
Are you enthusiastic about working on the next (re)evolution occurring in vehicle-integrated photovoltaics? And are you passionate about programming, creative problem solving, learning, collaborating and have a maker attitude?
Join us on our mission!
Summary
Experience: open to all candidates; at least 2+ years of relevant experience in a similar or at least (closely) related role
Working at Lightyear is a unique experience. You get the opportunity to work for a company with a pure and meaningful mission. A mission that will make a positive and lasting impact on future generations.
What will you do as a Solar Proto Engineer?
As a Solar Proto Engineer, you will become part of the Solar Engineering Domain. In this role you work closely with solar researchers providing electrical and mechanical prototyping support and aiding in indoor and outdoor experiments.
As a Solar Proto Engineer you will have the following tasks and responsibilities:
- Conceiving and creating custom solutions for performing a wide variety of electrical and mechanical measurements or manipulations on PV modules;
- Managing the R&D equipment;
- Expanding automated processing;
- Provide hands on support for custom module production;
- Become an active team member of relevant research projects at Lightyear and provide necessary technical supports towards the successful completion of the projects;
- Propose and implement improvements for measurement procedures in collaboration with the solar researchers;
- Communicate planned experiments and required equipment with the engineering team;
- Affinity with process engineering is a plus.
A day as a Solar Proto Engineer
Lightyear is very flexible in terms of your working hours. In this role, it is expected you will be in our offices in Venray averaging 4 days a week.
You join the standup with the team and discuss what you have done in the lab yesterday, and give an update of your planned lamination and testing for today. During the stand-up, your colleague mentioned they are having trouble with a test set-up, and asks for your help, you agree to make time in the afternoon to support with his problem.
After the standup, while finishing your morning drink, you check on your emails, and respond to an internal chat message you have received where your input is needed for some new projects.
Fully awake, and hydrated, you now begin the layup of today's prototypes you will be making. You have some of the materials already prepared from yesterday, and as you are preparing the samples luckily, one of your colleagues offers you a hand to make the process even more streamlined. While you work on the prototypes and test samples together, you brainstorm together about some of the challenges you are facing in another project. You make good progress in this discussion and get your prototypes processing just in time for lunch.
You begin the afternoon by taking the test samples you prepared this morning and conducting peel tests on these samples. You make sure the tests are performed to specific standards and log all data, which you will process once all tests have been carried out. Following some update meetings with colleagues, you check out some datasheets and documentation to learn more about a specific communication protocol used by a new piece of equipment.
Then, before finishing for the day, you grab another caffeinated beverage with your colleagues and have a chat about how the day went, not because you have to, but because it’s a nice way to end the day!
What do we expect from a Solar Proto Engineer?
In order to succeed in the dynamic world of Lightyear; pro-activity, professionalism, communication and adaptability are crucial. We are looking for someone with an ambitious attitude who learns from the past but who is especially open to transforming new developments or ideas into the ‘tried and tested’ of the future! You thrive on working team based, but working independently shouldn’t be an issue. You are flexible and can work under pressure and not afraid of failing along the way. Furthermore, we are looking for someone with:
- A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field including an academic way of thinking;
- Open to all candidates; at least 2+ years of relevant experience in a similar or at least (closely) related role;
- Experience with data acquisition and processing using such as Matlab/Python and/or LabVIEW is a tremendous plus;
- Strong desire to understand complex electrical systems with a learning mentality;
- The ability to work and learn independently;
- The ability to work in team (a real team player) and willingness to help others which need your expertise even if the tasks do not fall into your direct responsibility;
- Creative, problem solving mindset;
- Not afraid to make mistakes and looking to learn from the past;
- The ability to think in different levels of abstraction and communicate throughout the whole organization;
- Mission driven and eager to deliver the change;
- A strong match between our core values and your values as a person;
- Proficient in English;
- Availability for 32-40 hours per week (with flexible working hours).
What can you expect from Lightyear?
In addition to a challenging role we also offer:
- A high degree of freedom and independence in your role
- A role within a multidisciplinary team consisting of highly motivated, inquisitive and talented people with a broad diversity of experience
- Participation in a good pension scheme
- 40 vacation days per year (based on a 40 hour contract)
About Lightyear
Lightyear is an innovative and progressive scale-up with one mission: clean mobility for everyone, everywhere.
Lightyear is an international leader in innovations for a future of sustainable transportation. In order to accelerate the transition towards a truly sustainable solution for mobility, we are focused on improving the efficiency and autonomy of new energy vehicles, including solar mobility charging systems.
At Lightyear, we all strive for the same goal. We have a team with diverse skill sets and backgrounds; all working tirelessly towards clean mobility for everyone, everywhere. We’re proud of our culture and live up to our core values: be bold, deliver quality, innovate with integrity, and serve your world. Our shared vision is what unites and drives us.