Director, Optics Strategy and Partnerships

NVIDIA is hiring a Director, Optics Strategy and Partnerships in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $216k-$345k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
Level classifies it as an executive role.
Level lists 2,700+ other open roles at NVIDIA.

AI in this role

NVIDIA is looking for a Director, Optics Strategy and Partnerships, to join our networking product marketing team in Santa Clara. This position offers a great chance to influence the future of data centers and networking technology. As an essential team member, you will help develop and build our optics roadmap for scale-out and scale-up networking. A successful candidate will simplify complex, competing requirements into clear working documents and communicate the vision to both internal and external groups.

A key part of this role will also be passionate about driving technology advancements and collaborations to support the roadmap. A detailed understanding of the optics and interconnect ecosystems, having extensive connections within the industry and the ability to integrate these into NVIDIA development programs is essential. Experience in preparing commercial agreements, statements of work, and backing investments into ecosystem partners to achieve roadmap objectives will complete the role. Our collaborative environment, combined with ambitious goals, will enable you to collaborate closely with our product, engineering, architecture, operations and sourcing teams to pioneer innovative solutions.

What you'll be doing:

Leading the optics product and technology roadmap process, across all data center and networking platforms
Customer Engagement: Work directly with customers and developers to understand use cases, difficulties, and requirements, ensuring our solutions meet and exceed their expectations
Providing input and mentorship to architecture and development teams for optics and interconnects across switches, NICs and compute platforms
Identifying and evaluating new technologies, innovations, and partner relationships to align with our strategic technology roadmap
Thought Leadership: Produce informative technical content, including blogs, white papers, webinars, and tutorials, that emphasize the value and innovation of our optics and interconnect platforms

What we need to see:

BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Applied Sciences, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience)
15+ overall years of relevant industry experience, with 10 or more years in a leadership role.
Proven experience and solid understanding of optical interconnects, silicon photonics, lasers, or closely related technologies, within high-performance data center settings
Practical knowledge of Networking (switching & routing for Ethernet/Infiniband and/or compute fabrics), and Data Center infrastructure
Demonstrated experience and skills in building partnerships, managing business contracts, statements of work, and investment justifications

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

Proven track record in product management or product marketing for optical transceivers, silicon photonics or co-packaged optics
Direct experience working with high performance data center networking or computing platforms
Background in formulating product strategies or specifying requirements related to networking or data center environments
Outstanding interpersonal skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary range for this position is 216,000 USD – 345,000 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

How we rate this

Director, Optics Strategy and Partnerships at NVIDIA rates 21 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.