Andon Bano

Head of Sales at ficonTEC Europe | Co-Founder at aivalanche | PhD

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

About

Driving sales growth in Europe’s photonics industry by bridging deep technical expertise with strategic business leadership. As Head of Sales – Europe at ficonTEC and Co-Founder at Aivalanche, I help customers turn complex challenges in PICs, lasers, and automation into high-value, real-world solutions. Head of Sales – Europe at ficonTEC Service GmbH and Co-Founder at Aivalanche, I combine deep technical expertise in photonics with a proven track record in B2B sales, business development, and team leadership. With a PhD in Metrology and a Master’s in Electronic Engineering, I bridge complex technology with commercial success, helping customers achieve cutting-edge solutions in PICs, lasers, optical fibers, automation, and photonics testing. My career spans international sales engineering, strategic account management, and market expansion across Europe and beyond. I have successfully led sales cycles from lead qualification through to contract closure, built high-performing teams, and secured long-term relationships with industry leaders. Multilingual in English, Italian, and Albanian, and conversational in German, Turkish, and Spanish, I excel in building rapport across cultures and creating trust-based partnerships. Passionate about driving growth in the photonics manufacturing ecosystem, I focus on aligning customer needs with innovative, high-value solutions — ensuring measurable results for both sides.

Experience

  • ficonTEC ()
    • Head of Sales, Europe
      Jul 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 mo

      - Leading European sales strategy and managing the regional team to exceed revenue targets in photonics manufacturing. - Building strategic customer relationships and securing key accounts in PICs, lasers, and automation markets. - Overseeing sales pipeline management, forecasting, and cross-functional collaboration to deliver high-value, customized solutions.

    • Field Sales Engineer
      Mar 2023 - Jul 2025 · 2 yrs 5 mos

      - Managed B2B sales across Europe, from lead qualification to contract closure in the photonics sector. - Delivered on-site customer meetings, technical presentations, and product demonstrations for automated assembly and testing systems. - Prepared tailored quotations/proposals and maintained accurate CRM (Salesforce) records for pipeline tracking.

  • Cheif Business Officer & Co-founder at aivalanche
    Nov 2024 - Present · 1 yr 9 mos

    - Leading business strategy and growth initiatives to pioneer AI-driven engineering solutions across different industries. - Building strategic partnerships with industry leaders and research institutions to accelerate market adoption of our generative design technology. - Developing go-to-market strategies and commercial frameworks to bring ML-based design solutions to market.

  • International Sales Engineer at Menlo Systems
    Dec 2020 - Feb 2023 · 2 yrs 3 mos

    - Responded to global customer inquiries, prepared tailored technical quotations, and maintained strong long-term relationships. - Managed and updated the customer database; created and reviewed sales forecasts and pipeline reports. - Conducted on-site visits, performed instrument demonstrations, and delivered product presentations. - Identified new markets, applications, and business opportunities for advanced photonics solutions.

  • Politecnico di Torino (3 yrs 6 mos)
    • Optical Engineer
      May 2017 - Oct 2020 · 3 yrs 6 mos

      PhD researcher in the field of Optical Metrology (photonic measurements) in convention with National Institute of Metrological research (I.N.Ri.M.). - Drove an R&D project on Optical Fiber based sensors. - Participated in several international Conferences. - Published 5 scientific papers.

    • Teaching Assistant
      Jul 2018 - Jul 2018 · 1 mo

      Building Tomorrow Society: Nanoelectronics & Photonics Summer School. - Conceptualized and taught the laboratory classes of Photonics to other PhDs with different backgrounds.

  • Innovation Consultant at CDILabs
    Feb 2020 - Jul 2020 · 6 mos

    CDI labs offers consultancy to big corporate clients such as Ferrari, Marelli, FCA, Snam, CNH, Comau, etc. in terms of Innovation creating collaboration with emerging startups. - Scouted possible emerging Startups and R&D projects to be presented to the clients. - Co-authored a report for 2020, regarding the innovation and the Covid-19 impact during this year.