Job Description

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: + FA & reliability + Test development (ATE, bench automation, data)
+ 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.).