Lead Wearable Vision Tech Program Manager

ZEISS Group; Dublin (CA); On-site; USD 135,000 - 169,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical plans

Vision plans

Dental plans

401k Matching

Employee Assistance Programs

Vacation and sick pay

Job summary

ZEISS Group in Dublin, CA is seeking a technical project leader to drive end-to-end management of advanced spectacle lens development programs. You will coordinate R&D, manufacturing, quality, regulatory, and supply chain activities, turning complex customer requirements into actionable plans and measurable objectives.

The role requires strong leadership, deep understanding of product development lifecycles, and the ability to navigate high expectations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field of experience.
• At least 5 years of experience
• Proven experience managing complex technical development projects, ideally in optics, medical devices, consumer electronics, or similar high-precision industries with direct relationship to customers.
• Strong ability to structure ambiguity and turn evolving requirements into actionable plans.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including confidence working with highly demanding and detail-oriented customers.
• Natural leadership presence: you align teams without formal authority and keep momentum under pressure.
• Clear, concise communicator who can balance technical depth with executive-level clarity.
• Resilient, pragmatic, and solution-oriented—comfortable navigating conflict and high expectations.
• Solid understanding of product development, lifecycles and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end project management for advanced spectacle lens development programs, from concept through industrialization.
• Lead complex, (multi-year) new product and new technology development programs involving high technical uncertainty, multiple development loops, and strict industrialization readiness criteria, ensuring disciplined planning, execution, and control across all project phases.
• Decide on project sequencing, prioritization, and phase transitions within defined governance frameworks, while operating within corporate product development processes, quality systems, and applicable regulatory and safety guidelines.
• Exercise sole accountability for integrated project delivery outcomes, while sharing milestone approval and investment decisions with functional leadership and escalating strategic trade-offs to the supervisor when required.
• Translate challenging customer requirements into clear project plans, milestones, and deliverables.
• Analyze complex, often evolving customer requirements that involve advanced optical performance, manufacturability constraints, cost targets, and regulatory considerations, converting them into structured and measurable project objectives.
• Define project plans, milestones, and deliverables in alignment with internal development standards, formal change management rules, and contractual or customer-specific commitments.
• Decide on requirement prioritization and technical scope proposals in close collaboration with technical experts, while final approval of commercial or contractual interpretations remains with senior management.
• Act as the central coordination point between R&D, manufacturing, quality, regulatory, and supply chain teams for new product developments.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams operating across different disciplines, locations, and maturity levels, resolving complex interdependencies that directly impact product feasibility, industrial scalability, and time-to-market.
• Apply established governance models, escalation paths, and documentation standards to align functions while respecting functional ownership, regulatory obligations, and quality management system requirements.
• Decide on day-to-day cross-functional alignment and sequencing, while shared decisions on resource allocation and strategic priorities are taken jointly with functional leaders.
• Proactively manage scope, timelines, risks, and dependencies in a fast-moving development environment.
• Anticipate technical, operational, and supply-chain-related risks in environments characterized by incomplete data, parallel development activities, and aggressive timelines, ensuring early mitigation planning.
• Control scope, schedule, and dependency management through formal risk reviews, scenario analyses, and structured decision forums in compliance with corporate project management standards.
• Decide independently on corrective actions within the approved project frame, while major scope or timeline deviations are escalated for supervisory decision.
• Drive structured communication with internal teams and external stakeholders, ensuring transparency, alignment, and timely decision-making.
• Drive structured, regular, and decision-oriented communication with internal teams and external stakeholders, translating complex technical content into clear, actionable information.
• Ensure communication practices comply with confidentiality rules, regulatory disclosure requirements, and internal reporting standards.
• Decide on communication cadence, content, and escalation level, while strategic messaging to key customers or executives is aligned with senior leadership.
• Anticipate issues early, escalate effectively, and guide teams toward pragmatic, high-quality solutions.
• Identify emerging technical, organizational, or execution issues early by continuously monitoring project signals, trade-offs, and cross-functional interfaces.
• Escalate critical issues in a structured and timely manner, providing fact-based options and impact assessments in accordance with escalation and governance rules.
• Guide teams toward robust, high-quality, and pragmatic solutions, while final decisions on high-impact trade-offs are taken jointly with management.
• Maintain strong focus on performance, cost, and quality targets while meeting ambitious timelines.
• Ensure consistent alignment of project execution with defined performance, cost, and quality targets in development environments with high technical ambition and cost sensitivity.
• Monitor target achievement through structured reviews, KPIs, and deviation analyses in line with corporate controlling, quality, and audit requirements.
• Decide on optimization measures within the approved project framework, while deviationswith financial or strategic impact are escalated to the supervisor.

Skills

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or相关

5+ years experience

Project management

Stakeholder management

Leadership presence

Communication

Problem solving

Resilience & pragmatism

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field

Job description

ZEISS Group in Dublin, CA is seeking a technical project leader to drive end-to-end management of advanced spectacle lens development programs. You will coordinate R&D, manufacturing, quality, regulatory, and supply chain activities, turning complex customer requirements into actionable plans and measurable objectives.

The role requires strong leadership, deep understanding of product development lifecycles, and the ability to navigate high expectations.