Senior Optical Process & Automation Engineer (Hybrid)

Cisco Systems, Inc.; Allentown (Lehigh County); Hybrid; USD 139,000 - 201,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a senior Process & Automation Engineer to Own the process and automation strategy for optical product manufacturing, focusing on fiber attach, aligner development, and manufacturing readiness.

You will drive early DFM/DFx engagements with engineering, suppliers, and contract manufacturers to ensure scalable, cost-effective production. The role emphasizes cross-functional execution, property to scale manufacturing, and transfer of validated equipment and processes

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience in process, equipment, and/or test engineering in optics, opto-electronics, or semiconductor packaging, including NPI and transfer to production.
• BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optics/Photonics, Mechanical Engineering, Materials, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated experience defining, specifying, evaluating, or qualifying capital equipment working directly with suppliers and/or contract manufacturers.
• Strong technical communication, problem-solving, and multi-functional execution skills related to design-for-manufacturing, design-for-cost, or manufacturing cost modeling.

Responsibilities

• Own the process and automation strategy for optical product manufacturing—define process flows, equipment requirements, alignment approaches, and automation needs for critical assembly steps.
• Drive early engagement for design-for-manufacturing and design-for-cost—work with engineering, operations, suppliers, and manufacturing partners to influence platform decisions early and improve manufacturability, automation feasibility, and scalable cost structures.
• Develop and refine manufacturing processes for scale—improve yield, cycle time, repeatability, and operational adaptability for new and existing optical product platforms, ensuring processes can support ramp and long-term manufacturing needs.
• Identify and qualify the equipment for CPO/NPO—evaluate and select capital equipment across die and flip-chip attach, hybrid bonding, fiber-array attach, laser attach, encapsulation, laser burn-in, and wafer-, engine-, and module-level optical/electrical test.
• Support transfer from NPI to production—qualify and hand off validated equipment, process flows, documentation, and operating knowledge to internal operations teams and contract manufacturing partners so that transfers are balanced and repeatable.

Skills

Process engineering

Manufacturing engineering

Communication

Problem solving

Education

BS in Electrical Engineering/Physics/Optics or related field

Equivalent experience

Tools

Capital equipment evaluation

Job description

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking a senior Process & Automation Engineer to Own the process and automation strategy for optical product manufacturing, focusing on fiber attach, aligner development, and manufacturing readiness.

You will drive early DFM/DFx engagements with engineering, suppliers, and contract manufacturers to ensure scalable, cost-effective production. The role emphasizes cross-functional execution, property to scale manufacturing, and transfer of validated equipment and processes