{"id":68917,"url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer","title":"Staff Photonics Design and Layout 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":82,"open_postings":54,"ghost_share":0.296,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":43,"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"}},"role":"Hardware","role_family":"Hardware","seniority":"staff","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Boston, United States","Mountain View, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":175000,"max":230000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":230000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"HPC","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Cadence Virtuoso","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-03T15:20:39Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-25","last_verified_at":"2026-11-03T02:45:26Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":91,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":90},"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!\nAbout this Role\nWe are hiring a Staff Photonics Design and Layout Engineer to join our rapidly growing team. In this role, you will be working closely with photonics, product, architecture, analog, digital and packaging teams to floorplan, design and layout block- and chip-scale photonic circuits. You will be tasked with supporting photonic products throughout their entire development cycle, from a clean sheet concept all the way to the tapeout and bring-up. Leveraging our industry-leading and proprietary photonics integration and verification flow and tools, you will be working on verifying that all blocks and circuits meet their performance design targets.\nJoin a tight-knit team where each individual’s contributions directly influence the success of the company and product. You'll have the opportunity to build innovative integrated photonic solutions from the ground up and tackle groundbreaking challenges. Work with people who love to build and who thrive in diverse technical environments where great ideas are prioritized.\nResponsibilities\nUnderstand product requirements and work with customer-facing teams to help identify optimal photonics solutions\nWork on clean sheet design and layout of block- and system-level photonic circuits \nWork with analog, digital and packaging teams to ensure seamless integration of on-chip photonics with other subsystems\nPerform rigorous layout-driven photonic simulation and verification. Identify performance bottlenecks and troubleshoot issues.\nHelp develop and improve photonic layout, verification and integration flows for multiple photonic processes and foundries\nContribute to proprietary PDK development\nEngage in problem solving and contribute to new photonic chip designs and architectures.\nPublish novel results, and participate in premier optics/photonics conferences.\nQualifications\nMS + 10 years or PhD + 3 years of industry experience in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, or related discipline\nExcellent understanding of fundamental concepts of silicon photonics\nFamiliarity with of a wide variety of silicon photonics devices, knowledge of their performance metrics and design trade-offs\nProficiency with Python\nExperience with script-based photonic circuit design and layout using GDSFactory or similar\nDemonstrated track record of multiple photonic tapeouts\nExcellent communication skills, with demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams\nDemonstrated ability to independently work on both highly constrained and loosely defined problems\nPreferred Qualifications\nExperience with product-grade photonic tapeouts\nExperience with foundry and custom PDKs\nExperience with photonic and/or analog circuit design in Cadence Virtuoso\nStrong project execution skills, with the ability to handle multiple priorities and meet project milestones.\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$175,000—$230,000 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":4835,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":10,"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":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Optical Communications","AI Chips & Accelerators","Optics & Photonic Components"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-03T15:20:39Z"}],"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":"2026-10-29T16:27:21+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":7}],"liveness":{"score":25,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.719,"p_room":0.35,"age_days":90,"expected_fill_days":43,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-11-02T06:13:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":230000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/lightmatter-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-03T03:31:06Z","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":4755,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-04T00:00:00Z"}},"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-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer"},{"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-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer"},{"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-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer"},{"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-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Flightmatter-staff-photonics-design-and-layout-engineer"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":68917}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"lightmatter.co","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":68917},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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