Founder · Engineering

Lachezar Nikolov

Hardware that shipped by the million. Software I still write myself.

Twenty-six years of mechanical and R&D engineering — head-up displays, instrument clusters, automotive sensors, driver-monitoring cameras, battery-management hardware, precision robotics and heavy industrial equipment. Concept to start of production, under IATF, APQP and DFMEA discipline, through homologation, TÜV and NCAP.

The engineering habits that produce a released drawing are the same ones that make autonomous software safe to run. That is the thesis Iconys is built on.

BY THE NUMBERS
26
Years in engineering
25M
Sensors launched in year one
$1B
Programme quotation ownership
8
Countries in one engineering organisation
SELECTED PROGRAMMES

Opto-mechanics

Volkswagen modular head-up display

Led the mechanical development of a projection assembly where tolerance and alignment strategy, thermal drift and vibration decide whether the optical stack functions at all.

Microns of stack-up, not millimetres

Vision · Near-infrared

IVECO driver monitoring system

Part of the Bosch team delivering an in-cabin near-infrared camera system for trucks, buses and light commercial vehicles.

Homologation · TÜV · Euro NCAP · 2027 model line

High-volume sensing

Fast digital thermocouple sensor

Led development of a sensor that outperformed the market competition, alongside Housing Sensing Element work in a high-volume automotive environment.

+20% over competition · ~25,000,000 units in year one

Semiconductor capital equipment

Precision robotics for wafer fabs

Engineering leadership for robot teaching and port-loading systems serving processor manufacturing — kinematics, actuators and tolerance strategy decide whether the machine works.

Semiconductor, data storage and flat-panel customers

Energy · Sheet metal

Offshore and wind power electronics

Power-electronics modules for Suzlon wind turbines and a GPS and power-distribution module for a Transocean drilling platform — large enclosures, frames and mounting structures.

Designed in Zürich · built to survive unattended

Heavy industry

Mining, materials handling, power generation

Where the career began: crushing and screening plant, harbour and heavy-lifting cranes, coal, hydro and nuclear power generation, and an automation system for nuclear waste storage.

Steel and non-ferrous · structures measured in tonnes

PLATFORMS BUILT AT ICONYS
CAREER
2021 — 2026

Mechanical Department Lead · Robert Bosch

Led the mechanical engineering department on battery-management hardware: technical direction, design reviews, approval of design documentation, DFMEA, change and release discipline and reliability governance. Completed the two-year Group Lead Academy.

2020 — 2021

Technical Quote Manager, Display Product Line · Visteon

Led a group of Technical Quote Leaders owning new business pursuits and quotation for cockpit-electronics programmes, coordinating engineering, sales, programme management, purchasing and manufacturing from pursuit to award.

2018 — 2020

Technology Development Group Leader · Visteon

Advanced technology for cockpit electronics and displays — head-impact capability strategy, MURA characterisation, vertical integration, active privacy concepts, CES demonstrators, and optical test benches for cameras in low light and near-infrared.

2016 — 2018

Senior R&D Mechanical Engineer · Visteon

Led the RFQ for the BMW Gen 5 cluster family and the PSA display project; mechanical concept development, design reviews and feasibility analysis.

2015 — 2016

Lead Mechanical Engineer · Sensata Technologies

Project leader for Housing Sensing Element development — concept, design validation, manufacturing feasibility, DFM/DFMEA and launch readiness in a high-volume sensor environment.

2007 — 2015

HUD Engineer · Mechanical Project Leader · Senior R&D · Johnson Controls, then Visteon

Head-up displays including Chrysler HUD; module parts for the Volkswagen MQB instrument-cluster platform through to launch readiness; instrument clusters, compass systems, clocks and park-distance displays.

2007

R&D Mechanical Engineer · IDS AG, Zürich

Power electronics and energy systems — energy control, propulsion, photovoltaics and energy transfer, with extensive sheet-metal design for large machines.

2002 — 2007

Chief Engineer · Supervisor of Engineering Group · Genmark Automation

Engineering leadership, design improvement and production support for high-precision robotics serving the global semiconductor, data storage, flat-panel display and biotechnology industries.

2000 — 2002

R&D Engineer · Besttechnica

Mechanical design of industrial equipment for heavy industry, energy, materials handling, mining and construction.

EDUCATION & CONTACT

Education

MSc Mechanical Engineering
MSc Computer Engineering
Technical University of Sofia