Location: Fremont, CA
Compensation: $225,000 to $260,000 base + 25% target bonus
Benefits: Comprehensive benefits package, relocation support for qualified candidates, and more
Work Arrangement: Hybrid, approximately 3 days onsite per week
Sponsorship: Will consider H1b-transfers/TN-1 Visas
A leading optical technology company is seeking a Director, Product Line Management to lead high-speed optical transceiver product lines within its datacenter and communications business. This is a high-impact opportunity for a technical product-line leader who enjoys owning business outcomes, shaping next-generation hardware strategy, working closely with engineering, and partnering with hyperscale, AI infrastructure, datacom, and networking customers.
This is a true Product Line Management / PLM role, not a software product management or project management position. The Director of Product Management will act as the “CEO of the product line,” owning product strategy, roadmap, revenue, gross margin, customer engagement, design wins, cost reduction, lifecycle execution, and cross-functional alignment.
The role is tied directly to some of the most important technology shifts in infrastructure, including AI data centers, high-speed networking, optical interconnects, GPUs, switches, and emerging optical architectures such as Extra Dense Pluggable Optics / XPO and Co-Packaged Optics / CPO.
Key Responsibilities
- The Director of Product Line Management will be responsible for leading and supporting product-line strategy, execution, and business performance, including:
- Own revenue, gross margin, backlog, cost reduction, roadmap execution, and overall product-line financial performance.
- Manage high-speed optical transceiver product lines serving datacenter, hyperscale, AI infrastructure, datacom, and networking markets.
- Act as the business owner for assigned product lines, balancing customer needs, technical tradeoffs, profitability, manufacturability, cost, schedule, and long-term roadmap priorities.
- Build business cases for R&D and CapEx investments.
- Monitor R&D and CapEx spend and track return on invested capital against approved business cases.
- Participate in annual budgeting, long-range planning, and 5-year product and revenue strategy.
- Help define revenue, profitability, market share, and product-growth targets.
- Partner closely with R&D and engineering teams to guide technical direction, product architecture decisions, and execution priorities.
- Translate customer and market requirements into differentiated, technically feasible, and profitable product offerings.
- Drive design wins with hyperscale, datacenter, AI infrastructure, datacom, switch, ASIC, and networking customers.
- Partner with Sales and Product Marketing on customer engagement plans, market positioning, launch strategy, sales tools, and product collateral.
- Manage product lifecycle activities from concept through development, qualification, production ramp, cost reduction, and end-of-life planning.
- Support Operations with forecasting, revenue planning, order allocation, supply alignment, capacity planning, and manufacturing readiness.
- Work with Operations, NPI, Supply Chain, component suppliers, and contract manufacturers to drive cost-reduction initiatives.
- Monitor the competitive landscape and identify market trends in optical transceivers, optical interconnects, CPO, XPO, datacenter optics, and high-speed connectivity.
- Influence cross-functionally across Sales, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Legal, Marketing, customers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a technical business leader who combines optical hardware expertise with true product-line ownership. This person likely began their career in engineering, optical design, R&D, field applications, or technical sales before moving into product line management or commercial product leadership.
This is a great fit for someone who wants more than a narrow product execution role. The company is looking for someone who can own the outcome, not simply track milestones. The right candidate will be comfortable leading through influence, working with highly technical teams, engaging sophisticated customers, and making business decisions that affect revenue, margin, roadmap, investment, and customer success.
Strong candidates will understand the difference between product management and Product Line Management. This role requires ownership of the product as a business, including strategy, technical direction, customer engagement, design wins, financial performance, lifecycle management, and cross-functional execution.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering required.
- 10+ years of experience in Product Management, Product Line Management, engineering leadership, technical business leadership, or a closely related function.
- Product Line Management / PLM experience strongly preferred.
- Experience with optical transceivers, optical communications, photonics, datacom hardware, high-speed networking, or related technologies required.
- Strong understanding of datacenter, hyperscale, AI infrastructure, networking, or optical interconnect markets.
- Ability to own business outcomes such as revenue, gross margin, roadmap, cost reduction, design wins, customer engagement, and product lifecycle performance.
- Strong technical foundation with the ability to engage credibly with R&D and engineering teams.
- Ability to understand optical transceiver architecture, customer requirements, roadmap tradeoffs, manufacturability, cost, margin, performance, and schedule implications.
- Experience translating customer and market requirements into product strategy and profitable product offerings.
- Ability to work effectively across Sales, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Legal, Marketing, customers, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.
- Strong communication, presentation, analytical, and stakeholder influence skills.
- Comfortable operating in emerging markets where requirements, form factors, customer needs, and technical direction may still be evolving.
Preferred Backgrounds
- Candidates with experience in optical transceivers, optical communications, photonics, datacenter optics, CPO, XPO, AI infrastructure, high-speed networking, hyperscale infrastructure, switch ecosystems, ASIC vendor ecosystems, or optical component ecosystems may be especially well aligned.
- Strong potential backgrounds include:
- Former optical engineer who moved into product line management.
- Product Line Manager from an optical transceiver or optical communications company.
- Technical business leader from the datacenter optics, photonics, or high-speed networking ecosystem.
- PLM leader who has worked with hyperscale, AI infrastructure, switch, ASIC, datacom, or networking customers.
- Field Applications, R&D, optical engineering, or technical sales leader with strong business ownership and product-line aptitude.
- Supplier-side product leader who understands the components, architecture, roadmap, and customer ecosystem behind optical transceivers.
Product and Technical Environment
This role will support advanced optical interconnect product lines, including emerging and next-generation technologies.
The successful candidate does not need to be the hands-on inventor or designer of the technology, but they must be technical enough to keep up with engineering, guide product direction, understand tradeoffs, and make credible decisions with R&D, customers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners.
Travel
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Travel may be up to 30% and may include customer meetings, hyperscale-related travel, trade shows, conferences, and visits to engineering or manufacturing locations in the U.S. and Asia.
Work Authorization
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Visa sponsorship or transfer support may be considered for strong candidates, including H-1B transfers and TN-eligible Canadian candidates.
Why This Opportunity
This role offers the chance to join a scaled, credible optical technology platform while working on product areas tied directly to the future of AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, GPUs, switches, optical interconnects, and next-generation networking.
The Director of Product Management will have meaningful influence over product direction, customer strategy, technical roadmap, investment decisions, and business performance. This is not a role for someone who wants to manage a checklist. It is an opportunity for someone who wants to own a product line as a business.
Key highlights include:
- High-impact Product Line Management role with real ownership of revenue, gross margin, roadmap, design wins, and product lifecycle execution.
- Opportunity to work on cutting-edge optical interconnect technologies, including XPO and CPO.
- Direct connection to AI infrastructure, hyperscale data centers, high-speed networking, GPUs, switches, and next-generation datacenter architecture.
- Highly cross-functional role partnering with engineering, sales, operations, product marketing, supply chain, finance, legal, customers, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.
- Opportunity to influence products that are in development today and expected to become meaningful future revenue contributors.
- Strong platform with established credibility across major technology, hyperscale, and infrastructure customers.
- Visibility, autonomy, and accountability for a product leader who wants to drive outcomes rather than simply support execution.
- Hybrid work arrangement in Fremont, CA, with relocation support available for the right candidate.
