Strategic Planner, Photonics

About the job

Overview

Keysight is a mission-critical design enablement partner for organizations solving the world’s most complex engineering challenges. With deep engineering expertise and leading design, emulation, and test solutions, our ~16,800 employees help customers in over 100 countries accelerate innovation across communications, automotive, energy, quantum, aerospace and defense, semiconductor, and artificial intelligence markets. Learn more about what we do.

At Keysight, people come together to explore new ideas, challenge what's possible, and advance the technologies defining the future. Here, you'll find opportunities to do your best work, take your career further, and thrive in an award-winning culture. Learn more about our benefits.

Responsibilities

About the Role

Keysight is seeking an experienced strategic planner to shape its growth strategy in photonics. You will identify and prioritize opportunities, translate customer needs and market insights into actionable business cases, and recommend where and how Keysight should invest. Working across business, product, and research teams, you will evaluate opportunities for design, emulation, test, and measurement solutions in applications such as optical interconnects for AI data centers, automotive LiDAR, and quantum photonics. Your primary focus will be strategy development and opportunity prioritization, partnering with business leaders to translate approved strategies into execution plans.

Responsibilities

• Identify and prioritize photonics growth opportunities by assessing customer needs, technology trends, market attractiveness, competitive dynamics, and alignment with Keysight’s capabilities.
• Quantify total addressable market (TAM) and serviceable available market (SAM), distinguishing underlying application-market growth from the revenue opportunities Keysight can realistically serve in design, emulation, test, and measurement.
• Combine customer and ecosystem interviews with secondary research to validate unmet needs, market assumptions, adoption timelines, and commercial opportunities.
• Map the photonics ecosystem and value chain, including customers, suppliers, competitors, foundries, and potential partners, to identify attractive entry points and sources of differentiation.
• Develop clear opportunity assessments that define the customer problem, evaluate Keysight’s competitive advantage, and explain why an opportunity merits investment—or should not be pursued.
• Evaluate organic growth, partnership, and acquisition opportunities, articulating the trade-offs, capability requirements, and strategic fit of each option.
• Build decision-ready business cases covering market potential, competitive differentiation, investment requirements, key assumptions, risks, and recommended actions.
• Assess market, technology, and execution risks, including adoption uncertainty, emerging disruptions, and ecosystem dependencies, and reflect these findings in investment recommendations.
• Partner with business, product, and research leaders to align strategic priorities and translate approved strategies into actionable initiatives with clear ownership, milestones, and measures of success.
• Present clear, evidence-based recommendations to senior leadership and represent Keysight in relevant customer, partner, and industry discussions, consistent with business priorities and confidentiality requirements.
• Clearly and concisely communicate thorough, objective, independent recommendations to C-Suite decision makers on new SAM expansion growth opportunities.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• 10 or more years of relevant experience in strategic planning, business development, product management, or technology commercialization within photonics, optical communications, or related technology sectors, with demonstrated strategic planning capability.
• Strong technical foundation in photonics, with depth in one or more relevant areas—such as silicon photonics and photonic integrated circuits, optical interconnects, lasers, or optical sensing—and the ability to evaluate adjacent technologies and their implications for design, test, and measurement.
• Understanding of the photonics ecosystem and value chain, with the ability to connect technical developments to customer needs and commercial opportunities.
• Demonstrated ability to size markets, assess competitive positioning, prioritize opportunities, and develop business cases that support investment decisions.
• Strong business acumen and analytical judgment, including the ability to use appropriate strategic frameworks and research methods, test assumptions, and synthesize incomplete information into objective recommendations.
• Ability to combine direct customer and ecosystem engagement with rigorous secondary research to validate strategic opportunities.
• Proficiency using AI tools to improve research, analysis, and communication, with sound judgment in validating outputs, protecting confidential information, and maintaining personal accountability for conclusions.
• Proven ability to collaborate across business and technical teams, influence stakeholders, and help translate strategy into growth initiatives.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical and commercial issues clearly and persuasively to senior executives and external stakeholders.
• Initiative, creativity, and sound decision-making in ambiguous environments, with the ability to manage competing priorities and adapt as markets and technologies evolve.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with photonics applications or customers in AI data center interconnects, automotive LiDAR, or quantum photonics.
• Familiarity with compound-semiconductor platforms, including GaN, InP, or GaAs, and their relevance to photonics design and test requirements.
• Experience representing an organization in standards bodies, industry consortia, or other relevant technical and business forums.
• Advanced degree (e.g. M.S., Ph.D.) in a relevant technical discipline or an MBA is preferred.

Location

This position is onsite and based in Santa Rosa, CA.

Santa Rosa, CA Pay Range: MIN $180,000.00 - MAX $300,000.00

Careers Privacy StatementKeysight is an Equal Opportunity Employer.