{"id":2474937,"url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-photonic-architect-temp","title":"Photonic Architect, Temp","company":{"id":16141,"name":"Lightmatter","domain":"lightmatter.co","url":"https://alion.io/company/lightmatter-co","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":79,"open_postings":18,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.833,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":50,"computed_at":"2026-10-14T06:34:16Z"}},"role":"Data Science","role_family":"Data Science","seniority":"staff","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Toronto, Canada"],"countries":["CA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":114000,"max_usd":228000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":10},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"HPC","optional":false},{"name":"MATLAB","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-13T18:55:24Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-14T17:03:15Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Lightmatter is leading the revolution in AI data center infrastructure, enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. The company invented the world’s first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, capable of connecting thousands to millions of processors at the speed of light in extreme-scale data centers for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads.\nLightmatter raised $400 million in its Series D round, reaching a valuation of $4.4 billion. We will continue to accelerate the development of data center photonics and grow every department at Lightmatter!\nIf you're passionate about tackling complex challenges, making an impact, and being an expert in your craft, join our team of brilliant scientists, engineers, and accomplished industry leaders.\nLightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!\nWe are hiring a temporary employee at the PhD level for our Photonics Architecture team at Lightmatter! We are an optical interconnects company enabling the next generation of power efficient AI datacenters. With an increasingly large number of processor chips needing to be networked together to support the growing demands of AI, Lightmatter is creating engines that send data between processors using photons instead of electrons. Optical interconnections enable energy-efficient and high-speed communication links between the processors. \nResponsibilities \nYou will be part of the Passage transceiver product architecture team, focused on Photonic Architecture. \nYou will focus on the interaction between photonic effects and the performance of SerDes, drivers and TIAs. You will find creative solutions to maintain excellent error rates in our optical communications products, at ever-increasing throughput and density. \nYou will simulate end to end optical links, focusing on detailed optical effects such as fiber polarization, optical reflections, and thermal dynamics in silicon photonic structures. You will collaborate with our test team, to run remote testing on Lightmatter hardware, including SerDes, high-speed analog, and photonic chips. You will define test plans, and correlate test results with your simulations. \nQualifications \nPursuing a PhD in Photonics, Optics, or Electrical Engineering with a specialization in optical communications. \nExperience with optical link simulations in commercial tools such as VPIphotonics, Matlab, Virtuoso or ADS. \nHighly motivated to learn about commercial applications of silicon photonics and optical communications. \nCourses at the undergraduate and graduate level in electromagnetics (wave propagation, guided waves), semiconductor devices, semiconductor physics, optics, scientific computing, numerical methods, signals and systems, statistics, thermal physics, analog electronics. \nExperience with Python programming. \nUnderstanding of data collection and analysis. \nExcellent oral and written communication skills. \nThis role is located in Lightmatter’s Toronto office.\nWe offer competitive compensation. The base salary range for this role determined based on location, experience, educational background, and market data.\nSalary Range: total compensation goes beyond base salary, it also includes a new hire equity grant, annual performance-based equity, and other rewards that recognize your impact and contribution.\n$53—$70 CAD\nBenefits\nComprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)\nRetirement Savings Matching Program\nLife Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)\nGenerous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)\nPaid Family Leave\nShort Term & Long Term Disability\nTraining & Development\nCommuter Benefits\nFlexible, hybrid workplace model\nEquity grants (applicable to full-time employees)\nBenefits eligibility may vary depending on your employment status and location. Lightmatter recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.\nExport Control\nCandidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4109,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"Canada","iso":"CA","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["AI Chips & Accelerators","Optics & Photonic Components"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-13T21:04:27Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":60,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.602,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":50,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-14T06:34:16Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-photonic-architect-temp","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-photonic-architect-temp.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-14T19:12:03Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":25163,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-15T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":16141},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=16141"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Flightmatter-photonic-architect-temp"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Flightmatter-photonic-architect-temp"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Flightmatter-photonic-architect-temp"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/lightmatter-photonic-architect-temp\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Flightmatter-photonic-architect-temp"}]}