{"id":82276,"url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3","title":"Sr. Staff Physical Design Engineer","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":81,"open_postings":20,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.75,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":44,"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"staff","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Mountain View, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":220000,"max":270000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":270000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":12,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"HPC","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-01-07T02:15:51Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-25","last_verified_at":"2026-10-21T05:36:14Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":287,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":287},"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 seeking a highly skilled Senior Physical Design Engineer to work on the implementation of complex digital blocks. In this role, you will leverage your expertise in advanced process nodes (3nm) to drive timing closure, power integrity, and physical verification for high-performance ASICs. Beyond standard digital flows, you will have the unique opportunity to work alongside a team of world-class scientists and engineers in defining how the system will be optimized and trail blaze problems that are new to the photonics industry! If your passion is innovation, solving challenging technical problems and doing impactful work you should join our team!\nResponsibilities\nImplement digital blocks in advanced tech nodes from synthesis through physical verification, using industry standard tools and flows\nDrive fullchip STA signoff, review constraints, debug timing reports and implement ecos\nDrive power analysis and optimization while balancing area and performance trade-offs\nDrive full chip floor planning, IO placement and clock distribution\nUnderstand clock details and be able to customize clock implementation for functional and test clocks\nDebug and clean up DRC/LVS \nFunctional and timing ECO implementation \nWork with EDA companies to resolve any tool issues\nWrite TCL, Python, or Shell scripts to automate flow or customize existing flows\nQualifications \nBachelor’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering\n12+ years of industry experience working as a Physical Design Engineer\nMust have completed blocks or top level physical design for large ASICs or mixed signal chips that taped out\nThorough knowledge of timing closure, LVS/DRC closure \nExperience in TCL and Python (or other scripting languages)\nStrong teamwork skills with the ability to collaborate with multiple functional teams across a variety of fields\nAbility to react to change and thrive in a fast paced environment\nPreferred Qualifications \nMasters Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering with 8 years of industry experience\nHands-on experience with Cadence tools\nTape-out experience 3nm designs\nBe willing to do manual layouts as well as willingness to learn and do silicon photonics layout\nEM/IR analysis using standard industry signoff tools\n\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$220,000—$270,000 USD\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":4231,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":12,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["AI Chips & Accelerators","Optics & Photonic Components"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-01-07T02:15:51Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 27 · green card filings: 1","filings_12m":27,"filings_prev_12m":14,"green_card_filings_12m":1,"median_offered_wage_usd":177679,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)","US Department of Labor: PERM disclosure data (green cards)"],"filings_for_role_12m":0}],"liveness":{"score":10,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.34,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":287,"expected_fill_days":44,"reasons":["conf:0","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-21T05:46:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":270000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T07:48:32Z","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":11043,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"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-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3"},{"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-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3"},{"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-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3"},{"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-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Flightmatter-sr-staff-physical-design-engineer-3"}]}