Manager, Pilot Line Technician Team

Are you that rare leader who excels at building and developing a high-performing technician team while ensuring the highest standards of safety, quality, and throughput in a lab environment? Do you thrive on coaching people, structuring daily operations, and driving disciplined execution against SOPs? Do you move seamlessly from shift planning to root-cause discussions to one-on-one coaching? Do you enjoy working at the nexus of people and cutting-edge technology?

If you answered yes to this, we're looking for you to join us at Photonic!

The Test and Assembly Integration Engineering team is an integral part of the Development & Engineering group at Photonic, where we're building scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers based on photonically-linked silicon spins. In this role, you will lead a team of test and assembly technicians responsible for executing chip test and assembly operations across our pilot line — running stations, following SOPs with precision, and delivering fully characterized chips into our quantum computers.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of test and assembly technicians — setting daily priorities, balancing workload across test stations, and managing shift coverage to maximize lab utilization
• Recruit, onboard, and performance-manage technicians in partnership with HR; provide cross-training opportunities and support internal career growth
• Foster a high-performance, results-driven, and inclusive team culture where technicians feel ownership of their stations and pride in their craft
• Build a clear 30/60/90 onboarding framework for new technicians and own ongoing technician qualification on each station
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development conversations

Operational Execution

• Own day-to-day execution of the test and assembly flow, ensuring technicians follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) precisely and consistently
• Maintain qualification records, training logs, and certification status for every technician–station pairing
• Partner with Test and Device Engineering to translate new test methods into clear, technician-executable SOPs, work instructions, and checklists
• Manage equipment readiness — coordinate calibration, preventive maintenance, and qualification schedules in partnership with Engineering and Facilities
• Serve as the first-line escalation point for technicians on station issues, routing non-routine troubleshooting and failure investigations to the appropriate Engineering owner

Safety, Quality & Process Discipline

• Champion a strong safety culture, ensuring all activities protect personnel, equipment, and chips; enforce lab cleanliness, PPE, and handling protocols for sensitive materials
• Ensure rigorous adherence to change control — no procedure, recipe, or station configuration changes without proper authorization and updated SOPs
• Promote a culture where technicians are empowered to stop work, elevate concerns, and seek resolution whenever safety, quality, process compliance, and equipment integrity could be compromised.
• Maintain accurate records of test runs, anomalies, and station logs to support traceability and root-cause analysis

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Develop and maintain systems for tracking and reporting key technician-team KPIs (throughput, yield, cycle time, station uptime, SOP compliance), ensuring data-driven decision making
• Partner with Test Engineering on the failure-analysis feedback loop, ensuring technician observations are captured and fed back into process improvements
• Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and automate repetitive tasks so technicians can focus on high-value execution
• Communicate across an interdisciplinary team of device, hardware, software, and operations engineers to align on requirements, schedules, and deliverables

WHAT YOU BRING TO OUR TEAM

• Leadership
  
  Skills:
  
  3+ years leading technician, operator, or junior-engineer teams in a semiconductor, photonics, optics, or cryogenic R&D / pilot-manufacturing environment, with demonstrated ability to deliver with quality, velocity, and safety
• Operational Discipline: Proven experience running a lab or pilot line on SOPs —…