Director of Photonics Systems Engineering

Join our fast-paced and passionate team as Director of Photonics Systems Engineering. As we scale, you will be instrumental in building our foundation from the ground up. This is a dynamic, hands-on role for a self-starter who thrives in a fluid startup environment. You’ll have the opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies, work closely with leadership, and develop and implement engineering practices that support our mission and growth. You will lead a multidisciplinary team of Photonics Systems Engineers responsible for defining, architecting, and delivering complex photonics systems that are scalable, maintainable, reliable, and cost-optimized for volume production.

This role owns the overall system architecture - including laser architecture, optical subsystems, control electronics, firmware/software interaction, and system integration strategy - ensuring alignment between customer requirements, product strategy, and manufacturing readiness.

The Director drives the team of systems engineer’s technical rigor across requirements definition, architecture trade studies, risk reduction, and customer technical engagement.

Your key responsibilities are as follows:

Systems Architecture & Technical Leadership

• Lead development of end-to-end photonics system architectures, including:

• Photonic module and subsystem partitioning
• Laser frequency stabilization architectures
• Optical power control systems
• Frequency and phase control architectures

Oversee architecture trade studies balancing performance, reliability, manufacturability, scalability, and cost.

Guide architecture decisions from early concept through production release. Requirements & Flowdown Ownership

• Establish system-level requirements from customer specifications and product strategy.

• Lead formal requirements decomposition and traceability:

• System requirements
• Subsystem and module requirements
• Interface requirements

Ensure clean, auditable requirement flowdown into hardware, optics, firmware, and software teams and module teams.

Oversee Interface Control Documents (ICDs)

Drive disciplined change management and configuration control. Risk Reduction & Technical Validation

• Direct key risk-reduction experiments and early prototype builds.

• Own mitigation plans for:

• Frequency stability risks
• Phase noise risks
• Optical power stability
• Thermal drift
• Environmental sensitivity

Ensure validation plans de-risk control loop stability, noise performance, alignment tolerances, and lifetime reliability.

Champion early modeling-to-hardware correlation. Customer Technical Interface

• Serve as senior technical interface to customers.
• Lead technical reviews, architecture presentations, and design reviews.
• Work with the project engineering team to translate customer performance requirements into executable engineering plans.
• Support proposal development and technical roadmap alignment.

Team Leadership & Organizational Development

• Build and manage a high-performance systems engineering team.
• Develop systems engineering processes, templates, and best practices.

• Mentor engineers in:

• Architecture development
• Requirements rigor
• Trade study methodology
• Structured technical decision-making

Foster cross-functional collaboration between optics, laser design, electronics, firmware, reliability, manufacturing, and project management teams. Cross-Functional Integration

• Partner with:

• Laser design teams
• Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) teams
• Control electronics teams
• Software/Firmware engineering
• Reliability engineering
• Manufacturing engineering

Ensure system architecture supports high-volume manufacturing and long-term product maintainability.

Align system performance targets with cost and supply chain constraints.

• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of experience in photonics or laser systems development.

• 5+ years managing technical teams.

• Deep experience in:

• Laser architectures (DFB, ECDL, fiber lasers, integrated photonics)
• Frequency stabilization techniques (locking, feedback control, cavity stabilization, etc.)
• Phase and frequency noise management
• Optical power control systems
• Closed-loop control systems

Demonstrated experience building complex photonics systems from concept through production.

Strong background in requirements management and systems engineering methodologies.

Experience working directly with external customers in high-technology environments. Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with scalable/high-volume photonics manufacturing.
• Experience in telecommunications, quantum photonics, sensing, LiDAR, or coherent optical systems.
• Familiarity with Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

• Experience leading architecture reviews and technical design reviews (SRR, PDR, CDR).

• Strong understanding of reliability engineering principles for photonic systems

Startup Mindset:

• You’re creative, flexible, and eager to wear multiple hats.

• You’re passionate about building systems from the ground up and comfortable with ambiguity and change.

The expected annual salary range for this position is $200,000-$300,000.

As a full-time employee, you will be eligible for Monarch’s comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Fidelity 401(k) plan with 4% employer matching
• 20 paid time off (PTO) days per year
• 13 paid company holidays
• 9/80 work schedule (every other Friday off)