Avicena is a privately held company developing microLED based ultra-low power high bandwidth interconnects for chip-to-chip communications. This technology will revolutionize High-Performance (HPC) and Cloud computing, as well as other industries where low power interconnects are critical like camera sensors, autonomous vehicles, and aerospace. Avicena is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with a development center in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 2019 by leading technologists from the optical networking industry with a track record of delivering breakthrough products. (www.avicena.tech)
About The Role
We’re looking for a Senior Technical Program Manager / Engineering Manager to lead a team of ~8 engineers working on:
Failure analysis (FA) and reliability
Test development (hardware, software, data)
Optical and opto-mechanical packaging
You’ll own programme delivery and people leadership, and you’ll play a central role in coordinating work between Edinburgh and headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA.
Responsibilities
Leadership & team development
* Line-manage, mentor and grow a multidisciplinary team.
* Set clear priorities, goals and development plans.
* Support hiring and help shape the engineering culture in Edinburgh.
Program ownership
* Build and manage integrated plans for FA, reliability, test and packaging projects.
* Track milestones, manage risks and dependencies, and communicate status to UK and US leadership.
* Coordinate external partners for test, packaging and qualification activities.
HQ & cross-site collaboration
* Act as the primary engineering interface with Sunnyvale HQ.
* Align roadmaps, priorities and resources across time zones.
* Run effective cross-site reviews, handovers and decision forums.
Technical delivery (FA, reliability, test, packaging)
* Oversee FA and reliability strategies, test plans and qualification activities.
* Guide development of scalable electrical/optical tests and data flows from R&D through to production.
* Support optical / opto-mechanical packaging design, build and qualification with the specialist engineers.
* Ensure learnings from test, FA and field use feed back into design and process.
Ways of working & quality
* Drive clear requirements, design reviews, change control and documentation.
* Promote data-driven decisions and good experimental practice.
Qualifications
Essential
* Degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, Optoelectronics or similar (or equivalent experience).
* Strong experience running complex hardware programmes in semiconductors, photonics, optoelectronics or advanced packaging.
* Hands-on background in at least two of:
*
o FA & reliability
o Test development (ATE, bench automation, data)
o Optical / opto-electronic packaging
* Proven people leadership: managing and developing engineers and/or leading technical teams end-to-end.
* Comfortable working with distributed teams and external suppliers, including across US/Europe time zones.
* Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
* Ability to work in a fast-paced startup environment and rapidly respond to changes as needed.
Desirable
* Experience with microLEDs, optical interconnects or high-speed I/O.
* Familiarity with reliability and qualification standards for optoelectronic components.
* Experience taking products from R&D into pilot or high-volume manufacturing.
* Competence in data analysis tools (Python, MATLAB, JMP, etc.).