Product Management Leader, Client Optics - Acacia

Cisco Systems, Inc; Holmdel Township (NJ); On-site; USD 195,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) with match

Paid parental leave

Sick time/off per Cisco policy

Job summary

Acacia, now part of Cisco, is seeking a Product Management Leader to drive integration and promotion of high-speed optical interconnect products within Cisco’s portfolio. You will collaborate with engineering, operations, and marketing to define requirements, guide life-cycle decisions, and shape roadmaps for 400G–1.2T technologies.

The role demands 12+ years in product-related roles in optics or related fields, with strong stakeholder management and communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 12+ years in product development, field application engineering or product management.
• Demonstrated expertise in software, hardware and/or optics engineering.
• Experience with full product life cycle process including releases and ROI analysis.
• Ability to partner with cross-regional stakeholders to drive strategy.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Engineering on managing and progressing product development projects and priorities.
• Partner with Operations to enhance supply chain security, manufacturability and cost reduction.
• Lead the product through all life cycle stages ensuring specs, quality and profitability.
• Establish clear product requirements and drive documentation with Engineering teams.
• Drive customer product documentation in collaboration with Engineering and Systems Applications Engineering.
• Oversee all phases of the Product Life Cycle and successful decision reviews.
• Influence roadmaps, go-to-market strategies, and resource allocation.

Skills

Product management

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in optical/electronic engineering or related field

Tools

IEEE/OIF standards

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 09/25/2026

Job posting may be removed earlier if the position is filled or if a sufficient number of applications are received.

This position requires candidates to be based in Holmdel, NJ or Maynard, MA or San Jose, CA.

Meet the team

Acacia, now a part of Cisco, is a global leader in the design and manufacture of high-speed coherent optical interconnect products. We are the architects behind the technology that transforms how data centers, cloud providers, and service providers connect. By pioneering breakthroughs in Silicon Photonics and Digital Signal Processing (DSP), Acacia is shrinking complex, power-hungry optical systems into high-performance, pluggable modules that scale the internet for the future.

As part of the Acacia team at Cisco, you will work on the cutting edge of 400G, 800G, and 1.2T technologies. We are a group of innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most difficult bandwidth and power-efficiency challenges. If you are passionate about pushing the boundaries of physics and engineering to build a faster, more connected world, Acacia is where you belong.

Your Impact

As a Product Management Leader for Acacia, you will be responsible for driving the integration and promotion of Acacia’s high-speed cohere and client optical interconnect products within Cisco’s broader portfolio. In this role, you will:

• Collaborate with Engineering on managing and progressing product development projects as well as developing requirements and priorities.

• Collaborate with Operations: Partner with the operations team to enhance supply chain security, manufacturability, capacity ramp-up, and cost reduction.

• Drive Product Success: Lead the product through every stage of its life cycle, ensuring specs, quality, market timing, and profitability.

• Define Requirements: Establish clear product requirements

• Drive customer product documentation in collaboration with Engineering and Systems Applications Engineering

• Execute and Review: Oversee all phases of the Product Life Cycle and ensure successful Decision Reviews.

• Collaborate on Roadmaps and Go-to-Market Strategy: Influence strategic decisions on product and customer engagement, prioritization, and resource allocation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in optical/electronic engineering, physics, or a related field to include 12+ years of industry experience in product development, field application engineering or product management.

• Demonstrated technical expertise in software, hardware and/or optics engineering.

• Demonstrated experience understanding client optics and/or optical transceiver market and standardization.

• Demonstrated experience with full product life cycle process including product releases and return on investment analysis.

Preferred Qualifications

• Business-level fluency in Mandarin (spoken and written) is strongly preferred, to support close partnership with APJC-based stakeholders.

  Candidates without Mandarin fluency should have demonstrated experience partnering with or working within APJC organizations and navigating cross-regional business dynamics.

• Significant background and experience in related engineering field(s).

• Understanding of the role and implications of IEEE and OIF standards.

• Understanding of client optics applications and corresponding priorities.

• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, demonstrated through various professional or personal experiences.

• Experience presenting to a technical audience distilling and addressing their concerns.

• Experienced in communicating a clear strategy and motivating team members.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $194,600.00 to $285,700.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits.

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies:

• 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees

• 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

• Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

• Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)

• 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the next

• Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members

• Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

• .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

• 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

• 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

• Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$194,600.00 - $328,600.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$179,000.00 - $294,000.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.