CScale

Optical interconnects for large-scale AI infrastructure

Director of Program Management

Program ManagementConfirmed live in the last 24 hours

Full-timePalo Alto, CA, USAIn-person

About the Job

Requirements

Strong technical program management skills, including building an integrated schedule, owning the critical path, and driving issues to closure.
Working knowledge of the silicon development flow, from design and verification through tapeout, post-silicon validation, and qualification.
Technical depth to engage engineers on pre- and post-silicon problems and tradeoffs.
Ability to lead matrixed teams through influence and make sound decisions with incomplete information.
Proficiency with scheduling and tracking tools such as MS Project, Jira, SharePoint, and Notion.
12+ years in semiconductor or hardware product development, including 7+ years leading technical programs and earlier hands-on engineering experience.
Experience driving multiple silicon programs from concept through release to manufacturing.
Experience leading programs across global teams.
Startup or first-generation product experience.
Bachelor of Science or higher in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of contact for cross-functional program execution, with broad responsibility for execution excellence across CScale.
Own the cross-functional execution plan from concept through production, including architecture, design, verification, tapeout, bring-up, validation, customer sampling, qualification, and release to manufacturing.
Build the integrated program plan across design (multiple silicon die, hardware, and software), fab, packaging, quality assurance, test, and qualification.
Set milestones, phase gates, and the critical path with engineering and operations leads, and own the gate reviews.
Manage program scope, schedule, budget, and resource plans, and drive decisions when any of them change.
Run the program cadence across global sites and hold teams to their commitments.
Identify risks early, drive mitigations, and escalate issues with options and a recommendation.
Define program health indicators and build the executive dashboards leadership uses to run the business.
Own sample readiness and release-to-manufacturing criteria with engineering and operations.
Establish program management processes and tools as CScale moves into production.

Desired Qualifications

Familiarity with reliability qualification and production ramp.
Experience with optical engine or silicon photonics programs, or high-speed connectivity products.

CScale is building the interconnect for gigawatt-scale AI. As AI scale-up moves toward deployments spanning thousands of accelerators and dozens of racks, the network needs to deliver high bandwidth, predictable low latency, and continuous communication. CScale is building integrated optical interconnect designed for this new scale, enabling accelerators to work together like a single, much larger computer. But at this scale, performance is only part of the challenge. Optical failures are inevitable, and the system needs to keep running. CScale is designing the interconnect for continuity.Lasers will fail. Compute shouldn’t.The ambition is simple:Build AI interconnect you can take for granted.CScale came out of stealth in September 2026 with $145 million in Series C funding, bringing total funding to $188 million.

Duties, Deliverables, and Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of contact for cross functional program execution, with broad responsibility for execution excellence across CScale
Own the cross-functional execution plan from concept through production (architecture, design, verification, tapeout, bring-up, validation, customer sampling, qualification, release to manufacturing)
Build the integrated program plan across design (multiple silicon die, hardware, software), fab, packaging, QA, test, and qualification
Set milestones, phase gates, and the critical path with engineering and operations leads, and own the gate reviews
Manage program scope, schedule, budget, and resource plans, and drive decisions when any of them change
Run the program cadence across global sites and hold teams to their commitments
Identify risks early, drive mitigations, and escalate issues with options and a recommendation
Define program health indicators and build the executive dashboards leadership uses to run the business
Own sample readiness and release-to-manufacturing criteria with engineering and operations
Establish program management processes and tools as CScale moves into production

Expertise, Knowledge, and Skills

Strong technical program management skills (i.e. build an integrated schedule, own the critical path, drive issues to closure)
Working knowledge of the silicon development flow, from design and verification through tapeout, post-silicon validation, and qualification
Technical depth to engage engineers on pre- and post-silicon problems and tradeoffs
Ability to lead matrixed teams through influence and make sound decisions with incomplete information
Clear communication with engineers and executives, and composure under pressure
Proficiency with scheduling and tracking tools (e.g. MS Project, Jira, sharepoint, Notion)
Bonus: Familiarity with reliability qualification and production ramp

Experience, Background, and Accomplishments

12+ years in semiconductor or hardware product development, including 7+ years leading technical programs and earlier hands-on engineering experience
Driven multiple silicon programs from concept through release to manufacturing
Experience leading programs across global teams
Startup or first-generation product experience
B.Sc.+ in EE, Physics, or a related field
Bonus: experience with optical engine or silicon photonics programs, or high-speed connectivity products

Compensation includes a base salary of $150,000–$250,000 and equity in CScale. Final offers depend on experience, market conditions and location.

About the Company

CScale

Optical interconnects for large-scale AI infrastructure

CScale builds optical interconnects for large-scale AI computing. Its integrated light engines power gigawatt-scale AI facilities by containing optical failures and keeping compute running across thousands of closely connected accelerators. The hardware provides high-bandwidth, ultra-low-latency optical links to connect accelerators across racks, making data movement between chips dependable for continuous AI workloads. Unlike many data-center components that rely on electronic signaling, CScale focuses on silicon photonics and photonic hardware to deliver scalable, reliable communication at scale. Founded in 2023 in Palo Alto, the company exited stealth in 2026 and has investors including NVIDIA and Intel Capital. Its goal is to enable uninterrupted AI training and inference across large AI infrastructure by delivering dependable optical interconnects that scale as data-center needs grow.

Company size: 51-200
Company stage: Series C
Total funding: $145M
Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
Founded: 2023

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