Photonics Account Manager

About the role

Lightium, which builds photonic integrated circuits (PICs) on thin-film lithium niobate, is looking for a Photonics Account Manager to lead customer relationships from purchase order entry through R&D interface and long-term production agreements. The role sits in the Commercial Team, reports to the CRO and covers the full customer journey from project onboarding to delivery and after-sales expansion.

Key responsibilities

• Lead major customer engagements with the foundry services, from kick-off and design submission through DRC report, update meetings, shipment, invoicing and after-sales support.
• Track deliverables and open items across multiple simultaneous runs, act as the single customer-facing point of contact and route technical questions internally.
• Keep CRM records up to date and stay aligned with the R&D and Operations teams.
• Design, document and optimize internal business processes, and create SOPs for tools such as CRM, Customer Portal, PLM and ERP.
• Contribute to the customer portal with DevOps so customers can access traceable data such as PDK, technical updates, presentations, shipments and delivery notes.
• Build relationships with customer program managers, heads of photonics and engineering leads, and represent Lightium at tradeshows; the role involves regular international travel and meetings outside standard European office hours.

Required profile

• Advanced degree (Master or PhD) in Photonics, Engineering, Physics or a related field; business or project management training is a plus.
• 3-7 years in technical sales, account management, customer project or program management or customer success in a semiconductor or photonics environment; a foundry or contract manufacturing background is a strong advantage.
• Track record managing several simultaneous customer engagements with complex technical deliverables and tight timelines.
• Fluency in English; German, French, Mandarin or another Asian language is a plus.

Required skills

• Sufficient photonics or semiconductor literacy to talk credibly with a customer's engineering team (no chip design needed).
• Understanding of terms such as DRC violations, insertion loss specs and fabrication yield figures.
• Strong organization, customer-facing communication and collaboration with internal teams and external partners such as fab partners and OSATs.

What we offer

• Competitive compensation and benefits, including an employee stock option plan (ESOP) and fully covered Pillar Two.
• Generous vacation.
• A collaborative, innovative environment in a fast-paced startup.