Electrical Engineering Manager - Photonics - Denver

Location: Denver, CO (Boulder/Lafayette Area - Relocation Available)

Compensation: 130-180k Base Salary

Benefits: Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Long Term Disability, 401K

Contact: Andrew Millar; andrew.millar@irisscientific.com; 647-205-7151

Iris Scientific is a specialty recruitment agency laser focused on sales, marketing, and development roles in the North American Scientific Instrumentation Industry.

We’re partnering with a global photonics innovator (confidential) to hire an Electrical Engineering Manager in Denver, CO. Relocation is available.

As a key member of R&D, you’ll lead design, development, and launch of electronics hardware and firmware across multiple product lines—including low-noise precision electronics and quantum-adjacent instrumentation. This is a hands-on leadership role (~60% individual contribution): architect mixed-signal boards (analog/digital/RF-lite), guide embedded (C/C++/RTOS) and FPGA/CPLD workstreams, and manage a small, high-caliber team of electrical and firmware engineers.

You’ll thrive here if you enjoy:

• Developing and launching cutting-edge products used in research and product development

• Leading and mentoring engineers while staying close to the bench

• Working in a fast-paced, hands-on environment

• Chasing microvolts and dB in low-noise mixed-signal systems

What you bring:

• BS/MS in Electrical Engineering

• Either 2+ years of formal people management or strong project leadership with ~3–5 years’ EE experience and clear readiness to manage a small team

• 5+ years designing analog and digital circuits for electronic products, including measurable low-noise performance

• Proven delivery of complex, mixed-signal hardware

• Proficiency with Altium Designer and circuit simulation tools (SPICE, Ansys)

If this sounds like you, let’s talk.

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Purpose of the Position

The Electrical Engineering Manager is a mission critical role within the development team, working across many key product lines to design, develop, and release electronics hardware and firmware for innovative products in the fields of quantum photonics, low noise electronics, and complex integrated systems.

Core scope includes low-noise mixed-signal PCB design, electrical system architecture, and leadership of electrical/firmware engineering. The role is ~60% individual contribution and ~40% technical leadership/people management.

This position requires occasional travel less than 15% (US and international)

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Contributes individually to electrical and firmware engineering efforts, supporting product development, sustaining engineering, and system integration.
• Acts as a lead architect during electronic system design, overseeing chip selection and system engineering.
• Acts as a lead architect for firmware design, including FPGA and CPLD programming.

• Manages and mentors a team of 4-6 Electrical and Firmware Engineers to design electronic hardware and firmware.
• Develops ideas for new products and product families based on requirements for advanced photonics applications
• Develops, maintains, and communicates project schedules and conducts periodic meetings both with the leadership team and with the product design team.
• Accountable for sustaining support, testing, and quality control of electronics subsystems and firmware departmental products.

Qualifications

Experience:

• 2+ years of engineering management or proven project leadership with ~3–5 years of EE experience and readiness to lead people

• 5+ years of demonstrated experience designing analog and digital circuits for electronic products

Education:

• BS or MS Degree in Electrical Engineering (or equivalent)

Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Track record delivering mixed-signal boards (precision AFEs/TIAs, references, filtering, ADC/DAC selection, clocking/jitter) with strong EMC/EMI practices

• Fluent with electrical design tools (Altium preferred) and SPICE; familiarity with Ansys or similar a plus

• Comfortable collaborating on embedded (C/C++/RTOS) and coordinating FPGA/CPLD efforts

• Useful extras: light RF/modulation experience; exposure to photonics/laser electronics (not required)

• Strong bench skills (scopes, spectrum/phase-noise analyzers, lock-in methods), debugging, and re-work

• Experience with PCB procurement/manufacturing docs and BOM management

• Servant-leader mindset, excellent communication to technical/non-technical audiences, and appetite to grow a team

Direct Reports

• Electrical and Firmware Engineering team members report to this position (initially ~4–6, with near-term hiring planned).

Other Requirements

• US Citizenship or Green Card is required
• Valid drivers license is highly recommended