Photonics Manager

We're Hiring: Photonics Manager

Location: United Arab Emirates (Remote)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience Level: Mid-Level to Senior

Work Arrangement: Fully Remote

About Us

We are a globally focused organization committed to advancing photonics technologies, optical systems, and next-generation solutions across diverse technology and industrial applications.

Our teams collaborate across Photonics Engineering, Optics, Electronics, Semiconductor, Manufacturing, Software, Product Development, Quality, Supply Chain, and Commercial functions to develop reliable, scalable, and high-performance photonic products and systems.

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Photonics Manager to lead photonics technology development, optical engineering, product development, system integration, testing, manufacturing support, and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will combine strong technical knowledge of photonics and optical systems with effective engineering leadership, project management, product development, and cross-functional collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement photonics technology and product strategies aligned with business and technical objectives.
• Lead photonics engineering teams responsible for research, development, integration, testing, and product delivery.
• Define technical roadmaps for photonic components, devices, modules, subsystems, and complete optical systems.
• Manage photonics development programs from concept and feasibility through design, prototyping, qualification, production, and lifecycle support.
• Evaluate emerging photonics technologies and assess their potential applications and commercial value.
• Lead development of optical, photonic, optoelectronic, and integrated photonic solutions.
• Manage requirements for optical performance, electrical interfaces, mechanical integration, thermal behavior, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Coordinate optical system architecture, component selection, interfaces, and performance budgets.
• Work with engineering teams on lasers, LEDs, photodetectors, modulators, optical amplifiers, waveguides, filters, switches, couplers, sensors, and related photonic components.
• Support development of integrated photonics and photonic integrated circuits where applicable.
• Coordinate optical design activities including ray tracing, wave propagation, coupling, alignment, beam management, and optical simulation.
• Define optical specifications covering wavelength, power, bandwidth, insertion loss, extinction ratio, sensitivity, noise, efficiency, stability, and other relevant parameters.
• Develop and maintain optical and photonic performance budgets.
• Lead prototype development, laboratory validation, characterization, and system-level testing.
• Establish test plans, measurement methods, acceptance criteria, and characterization procedures.
• Coordinate optical measurements using appropriate instrumentation such as optical spectrum analyzers, power meters, optical time-domain equipment, interferometers, microscopes, lasers, detectors, and network analyzers.
• Analyze optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical test data to identify performance gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for optical and photonic performance issues.
• Coordinate optical alignment, packaging, assembly, bonding, coupling, and integration activities.
• Work with manufacturing and process engineering teams to improve photonics manufacturability, yield, repeatability, and scalability.
• Develop design-for-manufacturing and design-for-assembly practices for photonic products.
• Support development and optimization of photonic manufacturing processes and equipment.
• Establish engineering controls for optical alignment, contamination, handling, cleanliness, and environmental conditions.
• Coordinate qualification and reliability testing for photonic components, modules, and systems.
• Evaluate performance under temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, thermal cycling, aging, and other applicable environmental conditions.
• Develop reliability models and identify potential degradation mechanisms.
• Support failure analysis of optical, photonic, optoelectronic, and packaging-related failures.
• Coordinate with semiconductor teams on photonic integrated circuits, optical-electrical interfaces, wafer processes, and device integration where applicable.
• Work with electronics engineers to integrate drivers, amplifiers, controllers, sensors, power systems, and high-speed interfaces.
• Coordinate firmware, software, control algorithms, and automation requirements for intelligent photonic systems.
• Support high-speed optical communication and data-center applications where applicable.
• Evaluate fiber-optic architectures, transceivers, optical links, and photonic interconnect technologies.
• Support development of sensing applications including fiber-optic, interferometric, spectroscopic, imaging, and other optical sensing technologies.
• Coordinate design reviews, technical reviews, prototypes, verification, validation, and product-release activities.
• Establish engineering documentation including specifications, drawings, test procedures, reports, design records, and configuration documentation.
• Manage engineering changes and assess their impact on optical performance, reliability, manufacturing, and certification.
• Coordinate suppliers of lasers, optical components, photonic devices, fibers, packaging materials, coatings, and specialized equipment.
• Evaluate supplier capabilities, technical specifications, quality performance, lead times, and supply risks.
• Support sourcing decisions and qualification of alternative photonics components and materials.
• Establish technical requirements for external development partners, laboratories, manufacturers, and system integrators.
• Manage photonics development budgets, schedules, resources, technical risks, and project milestones.
• Identify technical risks and establish mitigation plans throughout the product lifecycle.
• Support intellectual-property development by identifying novel technical approaches, inventions, and opportunities for patent protection.
• Monitor industry standards, technology developments, research publications, and competitive developments in photonics.
• Promote simulation, automation, advanced characterization, data analytics, and AI-enabled engineering methods where appropriate.
• Establish best practices for photonics design, testing, integration, manufacturing, reliability, and quality.
• Lead continuous-improvement initiatives focused on performance, yield, reliability, cost, and development-cycle reduction.
• Provide senior management with regular reports covering technology roadmaps, project progress, technical risks, product performance, costs, and improvement opportunities.

Key Performance Indicators

• Photonics development milestone achievement
• Product development cycle time
• Prototype development success rate
• Optical performance against specification
• Optical insertion loss
• Optical output power
• Optical efficiency
• Signal-to-noise performance
• Optical sensitivity
• Bandwidth performance
• Wavelength accuracy and stability
• Extinction ratio
• Optical coupling efficiency
• Alignment accuracy
• Photonic device yield
• Manufacturing yield
• First-pass yield
• Test pass rate
• Prototype-to-production transition success
• Product reliability
• Mean time between failures
• Environmental qualification pass rate
• Field failure rate
• Customer-reported optical issues
• Root-cause resolution time
• Engineering change cycle time
• Supplier quality performance
• Supplier delivery performance
• Component qualification cycle time
• Cost reduction
• Product cost versus target
• Development budget adherence
• Project schedule adherence
• Technical risk closure
• Design review completion
• Verification and validation completion
• Manufacturing readiness
• Continuous-improvement savings
• Intellectual-property contribution
• Technology roadmap execution

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate should have strong experience in photonics, optics, optoelectronics, optical communications, laser technology, integrated photonics, optical sensing, or related advanced technology environments.

The candidate should demonstrate:

• Strong understanding of photonics principles, optical systems, and optoelectronic technologies.
• Proven experience leading photonics engineering or product-development teams.
• Experience developing optical components, photonic devices, modules, or systems.
• Strong knowledge of lasers, detectors, modulators, waveguides, fibers, optical filters, couplers, amplifiers, and related technologies.
• Understanding of integrated photonics and photonic integrated circuits is highly desirable.
• Experience with optical design, simulation, alignment, coupling, and system-level integration.
• Strong knowledge of optical characterization and measurement techniques.
• Experience using optical test equipment and laboratory instrumentation.
• Strong understanding of photonics packaging, assembly, thermal management, and manufacturability.
• Experience with reliability testing, qualification, failure analysis, and root-cause investigation.
• Knowledge of semiconductor processes and optoelectronic integration is desirable.
• Familiarity with high-speed optical communication systems and fiber-optic technologies is desirable.
• Experience with optical sensing, imaging, spectroscopy, or related applications is beneficial.
• Strong analytical and data-interpretation capabilities.
• Experience using simulation, modeling, statistical analysis, or engineering automation tools.
• Strong project-management and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Experience managing suppliers, laboratories, external engineering partners, and technology vendors.
• Strong understanding of engineering quality systems, configuration management, and change control.
• Excellent communication and technical presentation skills.
• Ability to translate complex photonics concepts into practical engineering and commercial decisions.