Fiber Laser R&D Manager

Rudzinsky Associates, Inc; New Jersey; On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Rudzinsky Associates, Inc seeks a Technical Manager, Fiber Lasers to lead a cutting-edge R&D team in the Tri-State Area. This hands-on role blends advanced laser science with leadership of PhD-level scientists and engineers.

You will guide CW/pulsed fiber laser systems, mentor a multidisciplinary group, and collaborate with manufacturing and other technical teams to advance next-generation fiber laser technologies.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in Optical Engineering
• MS or PhD in Physics
• MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering
• 8–15 years of experience in high-power fiber lasers
• Strong experimental design and troubleshooting skills

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and evaluation of CW and pulsed fiber laser systems
• Provide hands-on laboratory leadership in laser architecture and performance
• Mentor scientists and engineers across fiber lasers, materials science, and photonics
• Guide high-power fiber laser research balancing optical, thermal, and mechanical requirements
• Drive performance optimization and mitigate power-limiting effects
• Identify research directions and establish R&D programs, milestones, budgets
• Collaborate with manufacturing, quality, reliability, and other groups
• Contribute to IP, publications, and major conferences
• Some travel to conferences and customer visits (~15%)

Job description

High-Power Fiber Lasers | R&D Leadership | Hands-On Technical Role

Tri-State Area

$170,000–$210,000 Base Salary + 15% Bonus Potential

The Opportunity

Our client, a global leader in optical fiber, connectivity, and specialty photonics technologies, is seeking an accomplished Technical Manager, Fiber Lasers to lead a cutting-edge fiber laser R&D team in the Tri-State Area.

This is an unusual opportunity for an experienced fiber laser technologist who wants to remain deeply involved in the science and engineering while leading an accomplished team of PhD-level scientists and engineers.

This is a hands-on R&D leadership role—not a manufacturing management position. You will lead an advanced fiber laser laboratory, establish research priorities, mentor experienced technical staff, and personally contribute to solving challenging problems in high-power fiber lasers.

The team’s mission is particularly compelling: use advanced fiber laser research to push the performance limits of next-generation optical fiber. Rather than manufacturing complete fiber laser systems, the group develops laser architectures and modules to characterize, optimize, and demonstrate the performance of its fiber technologies.

For someone with a strong background in high-power, ideally kilowatt-class, fiber lasers, this is an opportunity to lead research beginning at the materials and fiber level and carry that work through advanced laser architectures and commercially relevant technologies.

Why This Role Is Different

The organization has roots extending back to Bell Labs and some of the foundational innovations in modern communications technology. That tradition continues today in an environment where scientists and engineers tackle difficult optical problems, publish meaningful research, generate intellectual property, and translate innovation into commercial technology.

You will inherit a collaborative, highly capable technical team and have the opportunity to combine hands-on technical leadership, people development, research strategy, and program ownership.

What You’ll Lead

As Technical Manager, Fiber Lasers, you will:

• Lead the design, development, and experimental evaluation of CW and pulsed fiber laser systems, including seed sources, amplifiers, pump coupling, and beam delivery.
• Provide hands-on laboratory leadership in laser architecture, active-fiber performance, system stability, experimental design, and troubleshooting.
• Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers spanning fiber lasers, materials science, waveguides, optical fibers, and related photonics technologies.
• Guide high-power fiber laser research, balancing optical, thermal, and mechanical requirements to achieve demanding power, beam-quality, efficiency, stability and reliability targets.
• Drive performance optimization and mitigation of power-limiting effects including SBS, SRS, and transverse mode instability.
• Use advanced laser architectures to evaluate and demonstrate next-generation active fibers and related optical technologies.
• Identify promising research directions and establish R&D programs, technical objectives, milestones, budgets, and resources.
• Lead technical reviews and root-cause investigations while helping move successful technologies toward commercially relevant applications.
• Collaborate with manufacturing, quality, reliability, and other technical groups on programs spanning lasers, telecommunications, sensing, medical, aerospace, and defense applications.
• Support selected customer-facing technical discussions and contribute to intellectual property, technical publications, and major industry conferences.

What We’re Looking For

We are looking for someone who is first and foremost a fiber laser scientist or engineer who has also developed the leadership skills to guide highly accomplished technical people.

The strongest candidates will bring:

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• Approximately 8–15 years of experience in high-power fiber lasers or closely related laser technologies.
• Deep experimental experience designing, assembling, testing, measuring, troubleshooting, and analyzing fiber laser systems.
• Significant high-power fiber laser expertise; kilowatt-class experience is especially desirable.
• Demonstrated success establishing and executing advanced R&D programs and translating technology from concept and laboratory demonstration toward commercial applications.
• Previous technical leadership and/or people-management experience, ideally involving senior scientists and engineers.
• The technical credibility and interpersonal skills to mentor experienced researchers while maintaining a highly collaborative environment.

Technical Expertise

Candidates should have strong expertise across many of the following areas:

• Fiber laser architectures: Yb-, Er-, Tm- and other single- and double-clad active-fiber architectures; CW and pulsed systems; oscillators, seed sources, and amplifiers.
• Active fiber physics: Modeling, simulation, characterization, and optimization of active optical fibers.
• Optical fibers and waveguides: Fiber modes, waveguide design, mode-field behavior, specialty fibers, and their relationship to laser performance.
• High-power phenomena: SBS, SRS, transverse mode instability, thermal effects, and other power-scaling limitations.
• Fiber components: Pump and signal combiners, fiber Bragg gratings, mode-field adapters, splicing, and specialty fiber devices.
• System engineering: Thermal management, optical/mechanical packaging, laser reliability, qualification, and safety.

The Leadership Profile

The successful candidate will be comfortable moving between the laboratory, technical strategy, and people leadership. You should enjoy working with highly capable scientists, solving difficult technical problems, and helping turn promising research into technologies with real-world impact.

Equally important is the ability to balance innovation with schedule, cost, reliability, manufacturability, and customer requirements—and to communicate effectively with technical teams, senior management, customers, and the broader scientific community.

Visibility & Career Opportunity

The role includes approximately 15% travel, including occasional customer visits and participation in major technical conferences such as OFC, Photonics West, and Laser World of Photonics.

You will have the opportunity to publish, generate intellectual property, maintain visibility within the photonics community, and develop within a large global organization offering opportunities for broader technical and leadership responsibility over time.

Compensation & Additional Information

The anticipated base salary range is $170,000–$210,000, depending on experience and qualifications, plus 15% annual bonus potential and a comprehensive benefits package.

This position is based in the Tri-State Area and requires regular on-site participation in the R&D laboratory.

Because some programs and customers involve U.S. government and export-controlled applications, candidates must be able to meet applicable ITAR/export-control requirements. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Our client is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to legally protected characteristics.