Lead Photonics System Engineer

Jabil Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 105,000 - 189,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Paid time off

Parental leave

Company holidays

401(k) retirement plan

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

Jabil is seeking a Lead Photonics System Engineer to enable design and manufacturing services for Co-Packaged-Optics (CPO) systems in a hyperscale EMS environment. You will lead photonics engineering for server/rack manufacturing, partner with clients, and drive yield optimization across global sites.

This role requires deep photonics expertise, hands-on test capability, and travel up to 70%. You can be based anywhere in the USA with significant responsibilities in manufacturing scale and

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in photonics and optical communication links, component specs and test methods.
• Manufacturing experience in photonics systems.
• Hands-on DC/RF electro-optical testbenches setup and basic test automation in Python or similar.

Responsibilities

• Provide SME support for manufacturing line bringup and NPIs for CPO systems, focusing on design, yield analysis, and failure mode root-cause.
• Develop test strategy, QC gates, and rework flows with test and IE teams to enable process control and early fault detection.
• Define yield, throughput, and data dashboards for SPC and yield improvement in the work cell.
• Interact with clients to funnel specs and requirements for CPO system design.
• Support product design with DFM and FMEA guidance.
• Train and guide factory engineers through NPI and ramp phases.
• Maintain ongoing engagement with factory ops and eng teams to drive process improvements.

Skills

Photonics

Optical testing

Manufacturing

Data analysis

Education

Electrical Engineering

Physics

Job description

At Jabil (NYSE: JBL), we are proud to be a trusted partner for the world's top brands, offering comprehensive engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions. With 60 years of experience across industries and a vast network of over 100 sites worldwide, Jabil combines global reach with local expertise to deliver both scalable and customized solutions. Our commitment extends beyond business success as we strive to build sustainable processes that minimize environmental impact and foster vibrant and diverse communities around the globe.

Lead Photonics System Engineer

Jabil is seeking a Lead Photonics System Engineer focused on enabling design and manufacturing services for cutting edge Co-Packaged-Optics (CPO) systems, which present new challenges with the integration density of photonic elements at the box and rack level at the EMS environment. This position engages with leading edge technology companies. You will help transform photonics as an industry, while contributing to the rapid transformative growth within the Intelligent Infrastructure business unit. Lead photonics systems engineers in this team have responsibility for a diverse array of functions, all rooted on their deep technical understanding of photonic communication links, components, and wireline systems. The job scope includes establishing product engineering expertise for photonic systems both in the central engineering organization as well as the manufacturing sites, early client engagement to understand the requirements and potential manufacturing yield risks, designing test and debug strategy, and providing optical system design services as part of Jabil’s design services capabilities. Note: This is NOT a lab position. This is NOT research & development. This is production scale photonics manufacturing in a hyperscale environment. You are a leader within a global manufacturing team applying photonics technology to the manufacturing of server and racks for datacenters. Please note that this position requires more than 50% travel. You can be located anywhere in the USA for this position as a result.

What will you do?

• Provide product subject matter expertise to support manufacturing line bringup and NPI activities for CPO systems in Jabil’s factories, in particular focusing on process design, yield analysis, and root-causing of failure modes to drive yield improvement.
• Develop test strategy, quality control gates, and rework flows with the test engineering and industrial engineering teams to establish process control, early fault detection, and effective rework flows.
• Define yield, throughput, and parametric-data dashboards (as well as automated data analysis) for implementation with the work cell and data engineering teams to allow SPC implementation and drive systematic yield improvement processes.
• Participate in client interactions to funnel in specs, requirements required for system CPO system design.
• Support product design phase with DFM and FMEA guidance.
• Train and provide technical guidance to factory product engineers through manufacturing NPI and volume ramp phases.
• Maintain an ongoing engagement with the factory operations and engineering teams to continuously drive process and yield improvements, provide engineering support as required for tackling manufacturing issues.
• Keep abreast of new technologies pertaining to the co-packaged-optics systems with a focus on photonics packaging, fiber-optic connectivity, test and metrology methods and equipment.
• Evaluate and qualify new offerings in area of fiber-optic connectivity (such as blind-mate connectors, shuffle cables, various supporting tooling) to support design activities as well as tool adoption on factory floor.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required.

How will you get here?

Education

• Relevant 4-year Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Physics or a similar field is required

Experience

• 6+ years of photonics communication system (optical engine / transceiver / switch box / networking rack) development or product engineering in the datacom / telecom industry is required
• Capable of hands-on setting up of DC/RF electro-optical testbenches, including basic test automation coding in Python or similar.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Possesses deep expertise in photonics and optical communication links, associated component / module specs and test methods in R&D and manufacturing for defect detection.
• Manufacturing experience.
• Highly detail oriented, highly organized & methodical thinker.
• Able to tackle engineering challenges and devise structured R&D programs for process development.
• Independent, action-oriented, entrepreneurial, and with high sense of product ownership.
• Able to travel up to 70% both domestically and internationally.
• Advantage to experience working with manufacturing partners / in-house manufacturing of optical communication systems.
• Advantage to product-engineering experience in NPI and volume manufacturing ramp phases of optical communication components / modules / systems.
• Strong preference to advanced degrees in electrical engineering or applied physics.

The pay range for this role is $105,100 - $189,200.

• medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
• paid time off accruing at a rate of 3.07 hours during your first year of employment
• 4 weeks of paid parental leave
• in 2027, 11 company-paid holidays (9 fixed holidays and 2 optional floating holidays), subject to change yearly
• 401(k) retirement plan
• employee stock purchase plan

Jabil, including its subsidiaries, is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Accessibility Accommodation If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access Jabil.com/Careers site as a result of your disability. You can request a reasonable accommodation by sending an e-mail to [e-mail] or calling 727-803-7988 with the nature of your request and contact information. Please do not direct any other general employment related questions to this e-mail or phone number. Please note that only those inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to.

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