As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.
The Opportunity
Ciena’s Interconnects Operations team is seeking a Lead Product Engineer to provide on-site technical leadership at our manufacturing partner facility in Thailand.
This factory-facing role will lead the introduction, industrialization, qualification, and production support of Ciena optical products. The successful candidate will work closely with manufacturing, Product Engineering, Process Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Operations, and R&D teams to improve product quality, yield, manufacturability, and production readiness.
How You Will Make an Impact
- Lead new product introduction from pilot builds through qualification and high-volume production ramp.
- Drive manufacturing readiness across materials, equipment, tooling, processes, test systems, documentation, training, and product requirements.
- Investigate product failures, yield losses, test issues, quality concerns, and production bottlenecks.
- Lead root-cause analysis and drive corrective and preventive actions to verified closure.
- Improve manufacturing quality, yield, cycle time, throughput, and cost through data-driven problem solving.
- Lead qualification and factory implementation of design changes, engineering fixes, component changes, ECOs, and PCNs.
- Facilitate technical communication and issue resolution between the manufacturing partner and Ciena’s global engineering teams.
- Support product and process transfers between manufacturing locations.
- Promote Design for Manufacturing, Design for Assembly, and continuous-improvement practices.
The Must-Haves
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Optical, Photonics, Electrical, Electronics, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- At least 5 years of experience in Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Process Engineering, optical-product industrialization, or NPI.
- Experience with optical networking products, transceivers, optical modules, photonic assemblies, or telecommunications hardware.
- Experience supporting optical products through prototype, pilot, qualification, production ramp, and high-volume manufacturing.
- Strong knowledge of optical manufacturing processes, product testing, failure analysis, yield improvement, and manufacturing controls.
- Experience leading structured root-cause investigations and cross-functional corrective actions.
- Experience with ECOs, PCNs, product lifecycle changes, and qualification processes.
- Strong communication and technical leadership skills in a global manufacturing environment.
- Ability and willingness to work on-site at the manufacturing partner facility in Thailand and coordinate with teams across Asia and North America.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience working with contract manufacturers such as Fabrinet, Celestica, Jabil, Flex, or Foxconn.
- Familiarity with DFM, DFA, Lean, Six Sigma, 8D, statistical process control, and manufacturing-quality systems.
- Experience with SAP, Oracle, or similar ERP and manufacturing systems.
- Experience working in a Thailand manufacturing environment and ability to communicate in Thai.
#LI-SG1
At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.
Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.
If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.
Skills Required
- Master’s degree or bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Optical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- 5+ years of experience in New Product Introduction, Technical Program Management, Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Process Engineering, or Operations Program Management
- Experience supporting products through prototype, pilot, and production ramp phases
- Experience applying manufacturing operations and product industrialization processes
- Experience collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams to resolve production issues
- Working knowledge of optical networking products, optical transceivers, optical modules, optical interconnects, optical splicing products, photonics, or telecommunications hardware
- Experience applying yield analysis, root-cause investigation, and process improvement methodologies
- Experience with optical communications, telecommunications, networking, photonics, or semiconductor products
- Experience working with contract manufacturing partners such as Fabrinet, Celestica, Jabil, Flex, or Foxconn
- Familiarity with manufacturing quality systems and continuous improvement methodologies
- Exposure to Agile project management practices
- PMP certification
- Experience supporting global teams across operations, engineering, and manufacturing environments
Ciena Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Ciena and has not been reviewed or approved by Ciena.
-
Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is often characterized as competitive or above-market in certain roles and regions, with references to market-aligned salary ranges and transparency around pay bands.
-
Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is frequently framed as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision, with indications that coverage can extend to dependents and is viewed as a meaningful component of total rewards.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off offerings are described as flexible and generous, including Flex/uncapped PTO in many cases and additional paid time for volunteering.
Ciena Insights
What We Do
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the world’s most adaptive networks to enable our customers to deliver richer, more connected experiences for all users. At our core, Ciena is a company rooted in people. We prioritize deep, collaborative relationships within our teams and alongside our customers, partners, and communities around the world. For three-plus decades, we’ve brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. We continue to lead the evolution of networking with a strong track record of industry firsts. As end-user expectations skyrocket, our customers and their networks must transform. Ciena powers this transformation by driving next-generation solutions built for maximum openness and agility—today and into the future. Corporate/Brand Values: • Customer First • Integrity • Velocity • Innovation • Outstanding People We're the perfect size for you to make an impact. W Only Ciena has the depth of expertise and the culture of collaboration and partnership required to help our partners evolve. We do this by strategically integrating hardware, services, and software in an open environment to ensure our clients’ networks are ‘fit for flexibility’ today and into the f
Why Work With Us
We are known for our industry-firsts, including the first coherent optical solution, converged packet-optical platform, and intelligence automation platform. Our commitment extends beyond innovation, logging in over 35,000 volunteer hours and $2 million to worthy causes in 2023. We're the perfect size and culture for you to make a difference.
Gallery
