Director Program Manager

About Voyant Photonics

Voyant Photonics, based in the heart of New York City,  is transforming machine perception with a new class of LiDAR devices that are compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand and powerful enough to measure range, velocity, and reflectivity with unparalleled accuracy. By leveraging cutting-edge silicon photonic chips smaller than your fingertip, we deliver sensors that are not only revolutionary in performance but also affordable enough to integrate into any system.

Our technology disrupts the status quo of bulky, expensive, and power-hungry LiDAR systems, making high-precision sensing accessible for widespread adoption in robotics, autonomous vehicles, drones, industrial automation, and beyond. With Voyant, the next generation of machines can see, understand, and navigate the world like never before.

Discover how we’re redefining what’s possible by  making real products out of cutting edge research in silicon photonics.

Position Overview

In this role, you’ll be responsible for driving alignment across hardware, photonics, software, and manufacturing, ensuring that system-level deliverables are met on schedule, at quality, and with a deep understanding of what it means to productize novel technology. You’ll manage the execution roadmap for key hardware milestones (from dev kits to production systems), support customer deployment timelines, and help institutionalize our engineering processes as the company scales.

This is a critical hands on leadership role at the intersection of product, engineering, and execution. You will be both contributing and leading. You are someone who brings both technical credibility and operational clarity.

Location: Remote or New York City-based. For remote candidates, travel of approximately 25% (typically once per month) is expected.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end program execution for Voyant’s platform, including optics, electronics, firmware, thermal, and mechanical integration

• Lead execution of key hardware milestones including customer evaluation units, and the next-generation production product

• Act as the single point of truth for cross-functional timelines, risks, and priorities across internal teams and external partners

• Partner closely with engineering leads to pressure-test architecture, prioritize tradeoffs, and make informed calls on scope, cost, and risk

• Manage our build cadence (dev kits, EVT/DVT/PVT), aligning vendor timelines, CM readiness, and internal test plans

• Build and mentor a growing program team instilling execution rigor, clarity of roles, and ownership

• Interface with product, operations, and executive leadership to ensure alignment between technical milestones and company-level fundraising and delivery goals

• Drive the institutionalization of repeatable program processes, risk reviews, and decision frameworks appropriate to our scale and ambition

Required Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical, Mechanical, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline

• 8+ years of experience leading complex, multi-disciplinary programs, including direct ownership of roadmap, execution, and delivery

• Demonstrated success shipping complex hardware systems — ideally in sensing, embedded systems, or optoelectronics (e.g., LiDAR, cameras, robotics, or similar)

• Proven ability to manage system-level product development across electrical, mechanical, firmware, and software domains

• Experience working with contract manufacturers and global supply chain partners throughout the development lifecycle (EVT/DVT/PVT)

• Strong ability to drive clarity, alignment, and decision-making across teams in a fast-paced, high-ambiguity environment

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills — able to represent program status and risks to technical teams and executive stakeholders alike

• Operates with urgency, discipline, and empathy balancing technical depth with big-picture program ownership

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling a hardware product from early prototype to high-volume production, particularly at a startup or in an emerging technology domain

• Background working in regulated or high-reliability environments (e.g., automotive, aerospace, or medical devices)

• Experience supporting fundraising, board communications, or strategic customer milestones in an early-stage company

Benefits package

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity package

• Comprehensive health benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision)

• Unlimited PTO and paid company holidays

• Team events and company meetups

• Hybrid or remote work environment with monthly travel for remote employees.