Technical Program Leader

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Lumentum Canada was awarded the 2022 National Capital Region's Top Employers for the 6th consecutive year and the 2022 Career Directory Canada's Best Employers for Recent Graduates for the 5th consecutive year.
 

Technical Program Leader – Optical Products (WSS / OCM / DGE)

Location: Ottawa, Ontario – On-site with occasional travel

As a global, multicultural, and innovative company, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture where differences are valued and celebrated. We are united in our commitment to live our Guiding Principles: Innovate, Engage, Deliver, Excel, and Win. Our differences make us stronger, more creative, and more capable of delivering exceptional results.

Why This Role Exists

Lumentum's Ottawa design center is at the forefront of scaling the next generation of wavelength-selective switches (WSS), optical channel monitors (OCM), and digital-gain equalizers (DGE). As a Technical Program Leader, you will blend the delivery focus of an Engineering Program Manager with the system-level ownership of a Design Authority. Your key contribution will be ensuring programs meet schedule and budget, and that product architecture consistently achieves performance, reliability, and manufacturability targets.

What You'll Do

Program Leadership

• Lead a multi-disciplinary, cross-functional team through the concept, development, qualification, and production release of complex optical modules, managing Alpha/Beta deliveries and executive status reporting.
• Develop, monitor, and control integrated master schedules, budgets, and risk registers; identify opportunities for improvement and drive process enhancements that challenge the status quo.
• Coordinate vendor interactions, prototyping, test & characterization activities, and maintain frequent communication with customers and product-line management.

Technical Design Authority

• Define and maintain product specifications, translating market and customer needs into clear engineering requirements and system budgets.
• Own the system-level architecture, integrating optics, electronics, firmware, and mechanics into a cohesive design, and chairing formal design reviews (DRR/PRR/TRR).
• Guide problem-solving, root-cause analysis, and engineering-change control, ensuring the design continues to satisfy requirements throughout its lifecycle.
• Provide authoritative technical input to operations, quality, sales, and customers; mentor engineers in optics, electronics, algorithms, and software.

What You Bring

• Exceptional leadership and communication skills with a proven ability to build collaborative relationships across various functions.
• 5+ years managing complex R&D programs in optical or photonic product development, coupled with hands-on system engineering or architecture experience.
• A degree in Optical, Electrical, Physics, or a related engineering field; an advanced degree is a valuable asset.
• Comfort navigating ambiguous situations, defining a clear path to resolution, and confidently interacting directly with customers and executives.
• Technical depth in one or more of the following areas: lasers, MEMS/LCoS, Si Photonics, coherent optics, and free space optics.
• Familiarity with DFx, Six-Sigma, ISO 9001/TL 9000, and project tools such as JIRA, Confluence, Oracle, Agile, Tableau, or PMI/Scrum/PRINCE2 methodologies.

What Success Looks Like

• Programs launch on time and on budget, with quality metrics meeting or exceeding Telcordia and customer standards.
• Architectural decisions are thoroughly documented and traceable; design reviews promptly address actions, and field issues show rapid root-cause closure.
• The cross-functional team feels empowered, informed, and continuously improving—and customers view you as their trusted technical interface.

Ready to drive both execution excellence and technical integrity for industry-leading optical modules?

Apply via the Lumentum careers portal today and become a part of our innovative team.