Marco Hanft has headed the optical design department of Carl Zeiss' central research facility in Jena since 2011. The department designs optics for medical technology, microscopy, industrial measurement technology as well as photography and lithography. Hanft is also a member of SPIE and Deutschen Gesellschaft für angewandte Optik (DGaO – The German Branch of the European Optical Society) and was elected as an assessor to the DGaO board in 2019.