Photonics Account Manager / Photonique Account Manageress

Join Our Team as a Photonics Account Manager

Are you passionate about transforming complex customer engagements into seamless, high-trust partnerships? At Lightium, we're at the forefront of pioneering next-generation photonic integrated circuits (PICs) built on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN). We are seeking a Photonics Account Manager to be a vital part of our customer relationships, overseeing everything from purchase order entry to interfacing with our R&D team and managing long-term production agreements.

Position Summary

In this role, you will become a key member of our Commercial Team, reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). You'll take ownership of the customer journey, managing project onboarding, delivery, and after-sales expansion. Your primary responsibilities will include coordinating structured customer interactions, collaborating with our internal operations and design teams, and ensuring timely delivery of each multi-project wafer (MPW) run while keeping customers informed about project status. Your efforts will solidify Lightium's position as a trusted photonics foundry partner.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer Journey Ownership: Lead major customer engagements with Lightium’s foundry services from kick-off to design submission, DRC reporting, regular updates, shipment, invoicing, and after-sales support. Ensure customers are always informed about their project statuses through your exceptional organization and communication skills.
• Run Management & Internal Coordination: Track deliverables and open items across multiple simultaneous runs. Act as the single point of contact for customers regarding run status, directing technical inquiries to the appropriate internal resources, and closing the loop with customers. Maintain close alignment with our R&D and Operations Teams through regular sync meetings. Ensure that CRM records are accurate and up-to-date across all active engagements.
• Process Building & Continuous Improvement: Design, document, and optimize Lightium’s internal business processes to enhance scalability. Establish best practices and standard operating procedures (SOPs) across our tools (CRM, Customer Portal, PLM, ERP, etc.), facilitating a streamlined approach for a growing team.
• Customer Portal Ownership: Collaborate with internal DevOps to shape, develop, and maintain Lightium’s customer portal, ensuring transparent data sharing with customers regarding PDK, technical updates, presentations, shipments, delivery notes, and more.
• Industry & Relationship Development: Build trusted and long-lasting relationships with customer-side program managers, heads of photonics, and engineering leads. Represent Lightium and expand your professional network at relevant tradeshows. This position entails regular international travel for tradeshows, conferences, and customer visits. While Lightium offers flexible working hours, regular meetings outside standard European office hours may be necessary to accommodate customers in different time zones.

What You’ll Bring

• Educational Background: An advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Photonics, Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field. Business or project management training is advantageous.
• Experience: 3–7 years in technical sales, account management, customer project or program management, or customer success within a semiconductor or photonics environment. A background in foundry or contract manufacturing is a significant plus, along with a proven track record of managing multiple simultaneous customer engagements with complex technical deliverables and tight timelines.
• Technical Skills: A sufficient understanding of photonics or semiconductors to engage meaningfully with customer engineering teams. While you won’t be designing photonic chips, familiarity with concepts like DRC violations, insertion loss specifications, and fabrication yield figures is essential.
• Organization: Exceptional organizational discipline: You meticulously track open items, follow up promptly, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Maintaining well-organized folders and accurate information is a professional standard for you.
• Communication: Strong customer-centric communication skills: You can translate complex internal updates into clear, professional language for customers, providing concise information without sacrificing accuracy.
• Collaboration: Proven ability to achieve objectives through indirect leadership, whether pulling a status update from a process engineer or aligning with the operations team on shipping timelines. You are experienced in interfacing with external parties such as fabrication partners and OSATs, and you can communicate effectively across cultural differences.
• Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, demonstrating flexibility, ownership, and resilience amidst change. You are comfortable working in evolving environments and actively contribute to process development.
• Language Skills: Fluency in English is required, while proficiency in German, French, Mandarin, or another Asian language is a plus.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation and benefits package, including an employee stock option plan (ESOP), fully-covered Pillar Two, and generous vacation.
• A unique opportunity to lead a cutting-edge manufacturing initiative in the rapidly growing field of photonics.
• A collaborative and innovative work environment where your contributions will shape the future of telecommunications, datacom, and beyond.

Final Thoughts

If you are excited about building new technologies from the ground up and thrive in a collaborative, results-driven environment, we would love to hear from you. Become a key player in our early-phase startup and join a motivated, energetic team. You will have the opportunity to create, grow, and develop your professional skills at an accelerated pace. Lightium is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.