Director, Systems and Electro-Optical Engineering

Position Title: Director, Systems and Electro-Optical Engineering Position Description: Protingent Staffing has an exciting direct hire Director, Systems and Electro-Optical Engineering opportunity. Job Description: Looking for a Director of Systems and Electro-Optical Engineering to lead the group that defines how our LiDAR sensors are architected, specified, and optically realized. The role brings systems architecture, systems engineering, optical design, and laser engineering under one leader, so that the trade-offs between optical design choices and system-level performance requirements are owned in one place rather than negotiated across teams. This is a hands-on technical leadership role. The Director owns the product architecture and requirements baseline, leads a team of senior individual contributors, and is the system-level technical authority for the sensor within Engineering. The role partners with the Chief Scientist on technology direction and with the VP of Engineering on program execution. The scope may expand over time as the organization grows.

Job Responsibilities

• Systems Architecture: Own the end-to-end sensor architecture: requirements decomposition, interface definition, and system-level trade studies across optical, laser, electronic, mechanical, and software subsystems. Establish and maintain the product specification and interface baseline where it does not yet exist, and govern it where it does.
• Electro-Optical Design: Lead optical design and laser engineering as an integral part of systems architecture. Own the trade-offs between beam characteristics, transmit and receive optics, laser parameters, and system performance (range, resolution, object separability, signal-to-noise, eye safety).
• Sensing Strategy and Requirements: Own the system-level requirements and acceptance criteria for how the sensor scans and samples the scene, including how sensor output is consumed by downstream perception systems. Firmware and software teams implement against these requirements; this role defines them.
• Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and grow a team of senior individual contributors spanning systems architecture, systems engineering, optical design, and laser engineering. Set technical standards, calibrate performance, and build the ladder from Systems Engineer through Principal levels.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Act as the system-level interface between Hardware, Firmware, Software, Product, Quality, and Operations. Drive root-cause analysis of system-level and electro-optical failures.
• Requirements Management: Establish requirements management that traces customer and product requirements to architecture and design decisions across the product lifecycle.
• Technical Governance: Chair system-level design reviews and gate reviews. Ensure design decisions are documented, change-controlled, and traceable to requirements.
• Program Execution: Partner with Program Management and the VP of Engineering to set technical milestones, manage technical risk, and deliver systems and electro-optical work products on program schedules from prototype through production.
• Customer and Executive Engagement: Represent the systems and electro-optical capability in customer technical reviews, and report architecture health, technical risk, and resourcing needs to the VP of Engineering and, as needed, the executive team.

Job Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience in electro-optical or sensor systems, with at least 4 years leading senior individual contributors or engineering teams.
• Proven track record architecting and shipping electro-optical sensing products (LiDAR, imaging, ranging, photonics, or similar) from concept through production.
• Depth in at least one of optical design or laser engineering, and fluency in the other, sufficient to own trade-offs across both.
• Strong systems engineering fundamentals: requirements decomposition, interface control, and design review governance.
• Experience establishing a requirements and architecture baseline in a company that did not yet have one, and transitioning designs from prototype to production under change control.
• Experience with electro-optical and system-level failure analysis.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership and communication, with the ability to translate technical detail for executive and customer audiences.
• Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.

Preferred Job Qualifications

• Experience with scanning LiDAR architectures and their interaction with downstream perception software.
• Familiarity with laser safety standards (IEC 60825) and with functional safety or sensor qualification standards (ISO 26262, automotive or aerospace environmental qualification).
• Experience with high-reliability electronics and single-point-failure analysis for demanding environments.
• Experience scaling an engineering function within a growth-stage hardware company.
• Experience presenting to boards, investors, or enterprise customers on technical roadmaps.

Job Details

Job Type: Direct Hire Salary Range: $180K-200K Location: Pleasanton, CA

About Protingent

About Protingent: Protingent is an Award-Winning provider of top-tier Engineering and IT talent, trusted by companies at the forefront of innovation - from Software and Aerospace to AI, Clean Tech, Medical Devices, and Connected Technologies. We’re passionate about making a positive impact by connecting exceptional talent with meaningful opportunities and helping our clients build the future.