Electro-Optic Systems Lead

Ayosemi; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ayosemi seeks an Electro-Optic Systems Lead to lead cross-disciplinary efforts at the intersection of photonics, electronics, hardware, and AI. You will ensure system-level interfaces, schedules, and technical dependencies are aligned across teams, while driving data-driven validation and client-facing communications.

The role emphasizes ownership across disciplines, with responsibilities spanning technical leadership, proposals, and program execution for government and commercial customers.

Qualifications

• Requires deep technical experience across hardware/deep-tech disciplines.
• Must have prior experience with photonic systems.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including reports and stakeholder presentations.
• Experience with systems engineering practices (requirements, verification, cross-team coordination).
• Experience building system-level models or simulations.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate across photonics, electronics, hardware, and AI teams to align interfaces and timelines.
• Drive cross-team projects from kickoff through completion, resolving bottlenecks.
• Ensure data collection and models/simulations validate system-level performance.
• Serve as technical/programmatic contact for government and commercial customers, producing progress reports and briefings.
• Support business activities including proposals for government/commercial customers.
• Translate system-level requirements into scoped technical work across teams.
• Develop milestone-based program execution plans with scheduling, resources, and risk management.
• Track milestones, risks, and dependencies at the system level.

Skills

Cross-discipline engineering

Photonic systems

Communication skills

Systems engineering

System-level models/simulations

Technical reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics

Job description

Come build the future of compute with us.

Electro-Optic Systems Lead

Location

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

On-site

About Ayo

Ayo is a venture-backed early-stage startup that will radically redefine how humanity performs compute for AI. Our photonic processors will provide orders of magnitude improvement in speed and power efficiency in comparison to conventional digital compute platforms by taking advantage of the natural parallelism, speed and energy efficiency of light.

The Role

We are seeking an Electro-Optics Systems Lead to join Ayo as a core member of our engineering team. You will sit at the intersection of our integrated photonics, integrated electronics, hardware, and AI teams, making sure the pieces come together into working prototypes and products. You will drive the technical rigor behind our system-level models and simulations, and serve as a key technical and programmatic point of contact for commercial and government customer interactions. This is a high-visibility role for someone who wants to own outcomes across disciplines, not just execute within one.

What You'll Do

• Coordinate across the integrated photonics, integrated electronics, hardware, and AI teams to keep system-level interfaces, timelines, and technical dependencies aligned
• Drive cross-team projects from kickoff through completion, identifying and resolving technical and organizational bottlenecks
• Make sure the engineering teams are collecting the right data and building the models and simulations needed to validate system-level performance
• Serve as a primary technical and programmatic point of contact for government and commercial customers, including preparing progress reports, technical briefings, and program review decks
• Support new business activities including writing proposals for government and commercial customers
• Translate system-level requirements into scoped technical work across teams
• Build and communicate milestone-based program execution plans, including scheduling, resource management, and risk management
• Track project milestones, technical risks, and dependencies at the system level

What We're Looking For

• Both deep and broad technical experience spanning multiple engineering disciplines in a hardware or deep-tech environment.
• Must have prior experience with photonic systems
• Comfortable engaging deeply with technical work you did not personally design, and asking the right questions to keep it on track
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience producing technical reports and stakeholder-facing presentations
• Experience with systems engineering practices such as requirements definition, verification planning, or cross-team technical coordination
• Experience building system-level models or simulations
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, or a related field

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on DARPA or other government-funded R&D programs
• Background in integrated photonics, semiconductors, or related hardware domains
• Startup or small-team experience

Why Ayo

You’ll be a foundational hire connecting our technical teams to our external stakeholders, shaping how the company communicates progress and how our subsystems come together.

We are working on a genuinely hard and interesting problem: unseating the GPU as the dominant AI compute platform.

Early-stage means real ownership, real impact, and meaningful equity.

Competitive salary. Equity commensurate with stage and seniority. Benefits package including health, dental, and vision.

Fully onsite in Boston. We are a collaborative, in-person team.