Commercial Development Associate / Lead

Start date: Immediate

Type: Full-time

Location: Bristol (in-person)

Salary: £30k - £55k pa.

Join Light Trace as a Commercial Development Associate and be part of a small, high-impact team driving commercial traction for a disruptive integrated photonic product.

About the Role

You’ll engage with stakeholders across the AI, quantum, and photonics hardware industries, helping to shape market strategy and build partnerships to scale our technology. In this role, you’ll see the direct impact of your work on business growth while collaborating closely with the C-suite, in an environment where innovation, strategic thinking, and teamwork are at the heart of everything we do.

What You’ll Do:

• Drive early-stage commercial engagement with potential partners, customers, and suppliers;

• Work closely with the CEO to prepare and negotiate agreements such as joint development agreements (JDAs) and memoranda of understanding (MoUs);

• Liaise effectively with technical teams, investors, and senior stakeholders to advance collaborations;

• Contribute to commercial and partnership strategy, providing insight to guide decisions;

• Represent Light Trace at conferences, exhibitions, and industry events to build relationships, identify opportunities, and promote collaborations; and

• Track commitments and next steps to ensure partnerships progress smoothly.

Core Responsibilities:

• Help prepare, negotiate, and execute commercial agreements, including JDAs and MoUs;

• Serve as a key liaison between technical teams, investors, and senior stakeholders to progress collaborations;

• Support the wider team in the development and execution of commercial and partnership strategy; and

• Support the CEO to manage early-stage commercial relationships with potential partners, customers, and suppliers;

Core Skills & Abilities:

• Strong commercial and/or business development acumen, with the ability to identify and advance partnership opportunities;

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; able to engage confidently with technical teams, investors, and senior stakeholders;

• Experience preparing/reviewing JDAs, MoUs, or similar collaborative agreements;

• Demonstrate a degree of strategic thinking, with the ability to provide input on commercial and partnership strategy;

• Strong attention to detail and follow-through on commitments;

• Comfortable representing the company externally at conferences, exhibitions, and industry events; and

• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced, small-team environment while collaborating effectively across functions.
  

Nice to Haves:

• Experience working in AI, photonics and/or semiconductor-related industries.

Compensation & Benefits:

• Access to the company share options scheme;

• Employer pension contributions;

• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays;

• Flexitime with core hours from 10 am - 3 pm; and

• In-person working with flexible working options available upon request and where possible.

To apply to this role or to find out more information please send your CV and a cover letter to careers@ltphotonics.co.uk.

By applying to this job advertisement, you confirm your consent for Light Trace Photonics Ltd to hold your personal information which will be used strictly for recruitment purposes only. Light Trace Photonics Ltd will keep this information in accordance with its Personal Data Policy for a period of 12 months following the position being filled. If you wish for your data to be removed from our database, please contact our data controller at: jake.biele@ltphotonics.co.uk.