Director, Optical Transceiver Engineering & Product Management

Supermicro•San Jose, CA

About The Position

Supermicro is seeking an experienced leader to set the strategy and oversee the development, qualification, and lifecycle management of next-generation optical transceiver products for AI, cloud, data center, telecom, and networking applications. The role coordinates execution across engineering, operations, supply chain, quality, and customer-facing teams to deliver high-performance optical connectivity products aligned with market and business objectives. The ideal candidate brings deep optical communications expertise and a record of leading global engineering organizations and taking products from concept through volume production. The Director will define the product design and technology roadmap, lead strategies for pluggable and co-packaged optical solutions, evaluate emerging technologies and standards, and partner with executive leadership on investment and portfolio decisions. The role oversees product architecture, validation, reliability qualification, standards compliance, interoperability, manufacturing readiness, supplier relationships, and product performance. It also owns development schedules, budgets, resource planning, project execution, and business performance indicators including revenue, gross margin, quality, and schedule adherence.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, or a related field.
15+ years of experience in optical communications, networking, or photonics industries.
7+ years of technical leadership and people management experience.
Proven track record delivering commercial optical transceiver products from concept to production.
Experience leading geographically distributed engineering teams.
Strong knowledge of optical communication systems, silicon photonics, DSP-based optical architectures, PAM4 modulation, CWDM/DWDM technologies, high-speed SerDes, optical packaging and assembly, reliability engineering and qualification, and fiber optic networking technologies.
Working knowledge of IEEE Ethernet standards, Multi-Source Agreements (MSAs), OIF specifications, Telcordia requirements, RoHS and regulatory compliance, and data center and telecom networking architectures.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred; PhD is a plus.
Experience with AI/ML infrastructure and high-performance computing networks.
Familiarity with 800G and 1.6T optical interconnect technologies.
Experience with silicon photonics integration and co-packaged optics.
Strong understanding of hyperscale cloud networking environments.
Participation in industry standards organizations.

Responsibilities

Define and execute the optical transceiver product design and technology roadmap in alignment with business goals.
Lead long-term strategy for pluggable and co-packaged optical solutions.
Evaluate emerging technologies and standards to maintain competitive market positioning.
Partner with executive leadership on investment decisions, product portfolio planning, and technology strategy.
Direct end-to-end development of optical transceiver products, including SFP, SFP+, QSFP+, QSFP28, QSFP-DD, OSFP, CFP/CFP2, 800G, and 1.6T transceivers.
Lead architecture reviews, design validation, reliability qualification, and product releases.
Ensure compliance with industry standards and interoperability requirements.
Work with optical, electrical, mechanical, firmware, manufacturing, and systems engineering teams.
Establish engineering best practices, design methodologies, and performance metrics.
Drive innovation, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.
Partner with operations and supply chain teams to support product ramp and cost optimization.
Drive design-for-manufacturability, design-for-test, and quality initiatives.
Monitor yield, reliability, and field performance metrics.
Manage supplier relationships and technology partnerships.
Own development schedules, budgets, resource planning, and project execution.
Track key performance indicators including revenue targets, gross margin, quality metrics, and schedule adherence.
Assess business risks and implement mitigation strategies.