Senior R&D Operations Lead
As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.
Ciena is seeking a Senior R&D; Operations Lead – Industrialization & Technology Transfer to bridge the gap between engineering prototypes and fully industrialized products, ensuring that innovative photonic technologies are translated into manufacturable, testable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions.
Working at the intersection of Technology Development, Product Development, and Manufacturing Engineering, the successful candidate will drive the transition from prototypes to production-ready products and processes, establishing the foundations required for reliable high-volume manufacturing.
The ideal candidate combines a solid understanding of high-tech manufacturing environments with strong business acumen, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to turn complex engineering challenges into practical industrial solutions.
Initially, this will be a hands-on, senior individual contributor role , offering the opportunity to build a new function, define its operating model, and directly contribute to industrialization activities.
How You Will Make An Impact
- Drive Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Test (DFT) activities throughout product development.
- Translate engineering prototypes into manufacturable product configurations, considering process capabilities, tolerances, repeatability,
yield, and cost.
- Identify industrialization risks and manufacturing constraints early in the design process, working closely with engineering teams to address them.
- Coordinate manufacturability reviews and define industrialization requirements, milestones, and acceptance criteria.
- Support design optimization to ensure product architectures are compatible with scalable manufacturing processes.
- Design and validate manufacturing, assembly, calibration, and testing processes.
- Define process qualification requirements, manufacturing readiness criteria, and technical documentation necessary for production transfer.
- Support the development of manufacturing workflows, process specifications, tooling requirements, and test methodologies.
- Drive technical readiness assessments, identifying and addressing gaps before industrialization milestones and production release.
- Coordinate technical activities with semiconductor foundries, photonic packaging partners, and contract manufacturers throughout product and process development.
- Support technical evaluation and qualification of manufacturing capabilities, equipment, and processes.
- Run engineering builds, pilot production activities, and process validation campaigns.
- Facilitate technical troubleshooting,
root-cause investigations, and corrective actions during industrialization.
- Ensure manufacturing processes, technical documentation, qualification results, and production requirements are complete, validated, and ready for transfer to high-volume manufacturing.
- Contribute directly to establishing and scaling the R&D; Operations function, working closely with R&D; leadership.
- Develop practical methodologies, workflows, and tools to manage the transition from engineering development to industrial manufacturing.
- Establish structured processes for industrialization planning, design transfer, process validation, and production readiness.
- Identify technical and operational capability gaps and contribute to the development roadmap of the function.
- Promote a collaborative, execution-oriented culture focused on manufacturability, scalability, and continuous improvement.
The Must Haves
- Education: Degree in Engineering, Physics, or another relevant technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- Experience: 6+years of Significant experience in semiconductor, photonics, electronics, telecommunications equipment, or other advanced technology manufacturing environments.
- Proven experience in industrialization, manufacturing operations, technology transfer, or related disciplines.
- Experience working with semiconductor foundries, contract manufacturers, or specialized manufacturing partners.
- Strong understanding of product development lifecycles and the transition from engineering prototypes to industrial manufacturing.
- Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional technical projects and coordinate multidiscipl
Ciena is seeking a Senior R&D; Operations Lead – Industrialization & Technology Transfer to bridge the gap between engineering prototypes and fully industrialized products, ensuring that innovative photonic technologies are translated into manufacturable, testable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions.
Working at the intersection of Technology Development, Product Development, and Manufacturing Engineering, the successful candidate will drive the transition from prototypes to production-ready products and processes, establishing the foundations required for reliable high-volume manufacturing.
The ideal candidate combines a solid understanding of high-tech manufacturing environments with strong business acumen, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to turn complex engineering challenges into practical industrial solutions.
Initially, this will be a hands-on, senior individual contributor role , offering the opportunity to build a new function, define its operating model, and directly contribute to industrialization activities.
How You Will Make An Impact
- Drive Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), and Design for Test (DFT) activities throughout product development.
- Translate engineering prototypes into manufacturable product configurations, considering process capabilities, tolerances, repeatability,
yield, and cost.
- Identify industrialization risks and manufacturing constraints early in the design process, working closely with engineering teams to address them.
- Coordinate manufacturability reviews and define industrialization requirements, milestones, and acceptance criteria.
- Support design optimization to ensure product architectures are compatible with scalable manufacturing processes.
- Design and validate manufacturing, assembly, calibration, and testing processes.
- Define process qualification requirements, manufacturing readiness criteria, and technical documentation necessary for production transfer.
- Support the development of manufacturing workflows, process specifications, tooling requirements, and test methodologies.
- Drive technical readiness assessments, identifying and addressing gaps before industrialization milestones and production release.
- Coordinate technical activities with semiconductor foundries, photonic packaging partners, and contract manufacturers throughout product and process development.
- Support technical evaluation and qualification of manufacturing capabilities, equipment, and processes.
- Run engineering builds, pilot production activities, and process validation campaigns.
- Facilitate technical troubleshooting,
root-cause investigations, and corrective actions during industrialization.
- Ensure manufacturing processes, technical documentation, qualification results, and production requirements are complete, validated, and ready for transfer to high-volume manufacturing.
- Contribute directly to establishing and scaling the R&D; Operations function, working closely with R&D; leadership.
- Develop practical methodologies, workflows, and tools to manage the transition from engineering development to industrial manufacturing.
- Establish structured processes for industrialization planning, design transfer, process validation, and production readiness.
- Identify technical and operational capability gaps and contribute to the development roadmap of the function.
- Promote a collaborative, execution-oriented culture focused on manufacturability, scalability, and continuous improvement.
The Must Haves
- Education: Degree in Engineering, Physics, or another relevant technical discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
- Experience: 6+years of Significant experience in semiconductor, photonics, electronics, telecommunications equipment, or other advanced technology manufacturing environments.
- Proven experience in industrialization, manufacturing operations, technology transfer, or related disciplines.
- Experience working with semiconductor foundries, contract manufacturers, or specialized manufacturing partners.
- Strong understanding of product development lifecycles and the transition from engineering prototypes to industrial manufacturing.
- Demonstrated ability to manage cross-functional technical projects and coordinate multidiscipl