Principal Scientist – Technical Competence Centre

SMART Photonics; Eindhoven; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

SMART Photonics seeks a Principal Scientist to bridge research and market needs, reporting to the CTO. You will steer R&D direction, link industry insights to product strategies, and guide cross-functional teams.

You will engage with customers and partners, lead high-level proposals, and contribute to the company roadmap while representing SMART Photonics at major conferences.

Qualifications

• PhD in Photonics with 10+ years in technical product management within the photonics ecosystem.
• Solid experience in device, application, design and implementation of integrated photonic chips.
• Excellent written and oral communication with confident presentation abilities.

Responsibilities

• Connect research capabilities with product development needs.
• Align with global partners and customers during events and remotely to understand needs and goals.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Operations, and Commerce teams.
• Develop, improve and align R&D competencies with the Manager R&D.
• Lead forward-looking, company-sponsored R&D projects.

Skills

Communication skills

Presentation skills

Leadership

Education

PhD in Photonics

Job description

At SMART Photonics, we are at the forefront of photonic innovation, developing advanced photonic integrated circuits (PICs) that shape the future of technology. As a Principal Scientist, you will be part of our Technical Competence Centre, directly reporting to our CTO.

in this job you are like the brain of SMART Photonics, all we do, all we need to do, goes through this department. You collect market insights, understand the future of our technology and where we should focus, and you link this to R&D goals, possible new ideas as well as the capacity in our operations teams, in this role you need to communicate to all, so beside a technical authority, you can speak and listen to all levels in our company. our goals to support and guide us, so we can continue to create cutting-edge solutions that address real-world challenges.

Our ideal candidate combines a strong educational and academic foundation, with real insights of industry demands and expectations. If you offer the understating from potential customer perspective either from data/ telecom or the more sensing market this would be a very strong combination.

On our turn we offer you the full exposure towards our industry ecosystem, asked speaker on events, known face at the exhibition floor, and senior colleague that is asked internal for advise and guidance. on top of this we are active on the InP platforms that are in high in demand today, with the full manufacturing plant onsite. This is not an easy job, it will come with hurdles in it, however the taste of success will be worth it.

This job does not have a strict daily schedule, however recurring activates and expectation are:

• Connect research capabilities with product development needs.

• Alignment with our global partners and customers line, during events and remote to gain better understanding of their needs, challenges, and goals.
• Internal cooperation in several teams and projects together with Engineering, Operations, and Commerce.
• Develop, improve, and adjust the competencies of the R&D team together with our Manager R&D.
• Perform forward looking company sponsored research and development projects.
• Lead new business proposal efforts from a technical point of view.
• Closely follow the latest scientific developments at conferences and in papers and represent us at the key events such as ECOC, OFC and CIOE.
• Contribute to the Roadmap definition of SMART Photonics and translate the Roadmap in actual projects and development plans within SMART Photonics
• Train and coach our R&D engineers, be an example to them, a go to person and a trusted technical expert.

• A PhD degree in Photonics and on top of this, an extra 10+ years of experience in a technical, product manager position in our Photonics ecosystem such as telecom, datacom, optical communication, sensing or other applications.
• Solid industry work experience in device, application, design, and implementation of integrated photonic chips.
• Ability to effectively manage an urgent/crisis communication and drive a team to find creative and solid solutions to critical problems.
• Excellent written and oral communication abilities, along with confident presentation skills
• Seniority presence, natural authority as well as people interaction skills to face the most challenging conversation with prospects, Chief leadership and technical experts.