VP, Advanced Development - Santa Clara, CA, United States
Originally posted 8 June 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role is responsible for leading the advanced research organization, defining and executing the long-term research agenda, and reporting to the CTO. Research programs focus on datacenter and communications, materials, industrial, and emerging technologies.
What you'll do
- Define and execute a multi-year research roadmap aligned with company priorities in datacenter and communications, materials, industrial, and emerging technologies. - Lead an organization composed of Principal Investigators, senior technical leaders, and industry-recognized experts. - Oversee a portfolio of research programs, managing prioritization and resource allocation to deliver measurable technical outcomes. - Drive the development of technologies from concept through proof of feasibility, delivering demonstrations and proofs-of-concept that validate performance, scalability, and integration. - Transition successful technologies to Business Groups and define paths to advance, partner, monitor, or discontinue programs. - Evaluate external technologies and acquisition targets to provide build vs. buy vs. partner recommendations.
What you'll need
- PhD in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or related field. - 15+ years of experience in photonics or optical communications. - Deep expertise in datacenter and communications systems and optical technologies. - Strong understanding of complex devices such as CW lasers, EMLs, silicon photonics, tunable lasers, and IQ modulators. - Proven track record leading research or advanced development teams composed of senior technical leaders. - Demonstrated experience translating research into product results.
Skills: photonics, optical communications, datacenter, research roadmap, advanced packaging
This role has been open 136 days — well above the 51-day median for Technical Program Management roles.
Technical Program Management · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
25
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Median days open
51 d
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Median salary
—
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See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Coherent Corp | All employers we track in this specialty (25 roles · 16 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 4 | 25 |
| Median days open | 23 d | 51 d (−28 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | — |
Skills observed across this category: photonics, optical communications, datacenter, research roadmap, advanced packaging
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp (this employer) · 4 open roles · median 23 d
- Apple · 2 open roles · median 32 d
- Ayo · 2 open roles · median 52 d
- Lightmatter · 2 open roles · median 59 d
- Lumentum · 2 open roles · median 31 d
- Lumilens · 2 open roles · median 75 d
How we counted: 25 open Technical Program Management (Photonics) roles from 16 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.