Coherent

Engineering Manager

Coherent$120K — $150K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BS degree required (MS or PhD preferred) in Optical Engineering, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
  • 7-10 years of experience in laser or photonics product development, including hands-on engineering roles.
  • 2-5 years of experience in an engineering leadership role with direct people management responsibilities.
  • Previous involvement in laser system product development for free-space and/or fiber-coupled systems is strongly preferred.
  • Broad understanding of laser systems, diodes, modules, and optics.

Responsibilities

  • Manage and develop a team of engineers across multiple disciplines including optical/laser, mechanical, electrical, and testing.
  • Provide technical guidance and performance feedback while coaching team members to advance their careers.
  • Foster a results-oriented and collaborative engineering culture focused on accountability.
  • Provide technical leadership throughout the development of laser engines and measurement systems.
  • Ensure sound engineering practices in design, prototyping, and testing phases.
  • Lead the execution of development projects from concept to design release and manufacturing transfer.
  • Communicate project status, risks, and updates to the engineering management team.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive career development platform.
  • Stable work environment with opportunities for growth.
  • Competitive compensation program.
  • Support for health, safety, and environmental best practices.
Full Job Description
Job Description

Coherent's Laser Systems and Measurement (LSM) business designs and manufactures multi-laser light engines, laser diode modules, and laser measurement products for bioinstrumentation, microelectronics, industrial, and scientific markets.

The Engineering Manager is a technical and people leader within the development engineering team, working closely with the Engineering Director and other Engineering Managers in a multi-project development environment. In this role, you will lead multidisciplinary engineering teams, execute product development projects to meet timelines and requirements, delivering high-quality laser and measurement product designs

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Team Leadership
  • Manage and develop a team of engineers across optical/laser, mechanical, electrical, and test disciplines.
  • Provide day-to-day technical guidance, coaching, performance feedback, and career development for direct reports.
  • Foster a collaborative, accountable, and results-oriented engineering culture.
  • Support resource planning in coordination with engineering director and other engineering managers in the R&D team.

Technical & Product Development Leadership
  • Provide technical leadership for the development of laser engines, laser diode modules, multi-laser light engines, and laser measurement systems.
  • Guide system-level design decisions, requirements flow-down, design reviews, and risk mitigation.
  • Ensure sound engineering practices across design, prototyping, testing, verification, and documentation.
  • Review and approve technical deliverables to ensure performance, quality, reliability, and safety requirements are met.
  • Remain close at a technical level to provide credible technical guidance, design review input, and problem-solving support as needed.

Project Management
  • Lead execution of development projects from concept through design release and transfer to manufacturing.
  • Develop and manage schedules, priorities, and resource allocation for assigned projects.
  • Identify technical, schedule, and resource risks and develop mitigation plans.
  • Ensure projects follow the phase-gate development processes and hold phase-gate reviews for project milestones.
  • Ensure product deliverables such as design documentation, test results, analyses and outputs are reviewed and recorded.
  • Support NPI transfer activities to ensure effective handoff of new products to Operations.
  • Support customer engagement and technical discussions as needed in coordination with the Engineering Director, Product Management, and Sales.
  • Provide clear and timely program status updates, technical assessments, and risk communication to the engineering management team.

Education & Experience
  • BS degree required (MS or PhD preferred) in Optical Engineering, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline.
  • 7-10 years of experience in laser or photonics product development, including hands-on engineering roles.
  • 2-5 years of experience in an engineering leadership role, including direct people management or formal technical team leadership.
  • Laser system product development experience (free-space and/or fiber-coupled) strongly preferred

Technical Background & Skills
  • Broad understanding of laser systems, laser diodes, modules, optics, and optical/mechanical integration.
  • Experience leading multidisciplinary development teams (optical, mechanical, electrical, firmware/software, and test).
  • Familiarity with system-level architecture, prototype development, and validation testing (including automated instrumentation/laser measurement where applicable).
  • Working knowledge of laser safety and laboratory best practices.
  • Strong technical judgment with system-level thinking.
  • Clear written/verbal communication and comfort translating business needs into executable requirements and engineering plans.
  • Experience with engineering project management tools/methods (Wrike/Agile/Kanban).

Safety Requirements

All employees are required to follow the site EHS procedures and Coherent Corp. Corporate EHS standards.

Quality and Environmental Responsibilities

Depending on location, this position may be responsible for the execution and maintenance of the ISO 9000, 9001, 14001 and/or other applicable standards that may apply to the relevant roles and responsibilities within the Quality Management System and Environmental Management System.

About Coherent

Coherent, Inc. is a global leader in providing laser-based solutions to a broad range of commercial and scientific research customers. The company designs, manufactures, and markets lasers, laser-based systems, precision optics, and related accessories for a diverse group of customers. Coherent's markets include scientific research, OEM components and instrumentation, microelectronics, materials processing, and life sciences. The company's products are used in a wide range of applications. Coherent was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
Learn more about Coherent
Size
5,085 employees
Market Cap
$4.6 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$419.7 million
Founded
1966
5 Year Trend
+27.8%
Revenue
$1.2 billion
NASDAQ

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