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.
Lightmatter 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!
If 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.
Lightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!
Lightmatter builds chips that enable extreme-scale AI computing clusters. If you're a collaborative engineer or scientist who has a passion for innovation, solving challenging technical problems and doing impactful work like building the world's first optically accelerated computers, consider joining the team at Lightmatter!
We are hiring an Analog and Mixed-Signal (AMS) Architect. The selected candidate will partner with internal engineering teams at Lightmatter to deliver groundbreaking products to the market. In this role, you will contribute to the design and development of innovative analog architecture solutions to deliver high-volume products for our customers. As an architect, you will provide detailed technical documents that describe what needs to be built to the engineering team. You will engage with our cross-disciplinary engineering teams to model and analyze solutions. The role also requires creativity, analytical skills, and clear communication skills. You will represent the company at technical conferences as an example of our technical leadership.
You will report directly to the Chief Scientist, but you will also work closely with our digital, analog, photonic, and software teams. Join 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 a new kind of computer from the ground up and to solve groundbreaking challenges along the way. Work with people who love to build and who thrive in technically diverse environments where great ideas are prioritized.
Key Responsibilities:
- Propose innovative solutions high-speed (50G and beyond) AMS circuit blocks custom to optical transceivers, such as drivers, TIAs, equalizers, ADC/DACs, PLLs, CDRs.
- Work closely with the analog engineering design team to performance, power, and area estimates of the analog devices within Passage.
- Actively collaborate with the photonics engineering team to provide a high-bandwidth photonic interconnect solution.
- Author, review, and validate architectural specifications.
Qualifications:
- PhD in electrical engineering, physics, applied physics, or a discipline related to analog design.
- Experience in designing and testing optical front-end receivers and transmitters (TIAs, drivers), CTLE, DFE, ADC, DAC, oscillators, etc. in advanced CMOS.
- Power user of simulation tools Cadence Virtuoso, Cadence Spectre, Verilog-A, IBIS-AMI simulators.
- Ability and desire to collaborate in a cross-disciplinary team.
- Excellent written and communication skills.
- Demonstrated strong problem solving skills specifically pertaining to problems that do not have obvious solutions.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Understanding of signal processing (i.e., equalization, digital signal processing, and coding) and signal integrity in optical communication.
- Experience in silicon photonic devices (Mach-Zehnder and microring modulators, thermally tuned components)
- A culture champion for Lightmatter, aligns with the company’s light-hearted culture.
- Willing and able to learn quickly. Self-starter with a “no task is too big or small” attitude.
- Innovative and flexible; realizes that a one-size-fits-all approach will not always solve the problem at hand.
- Data-driven and analytical; translates numbers into actionable strategies.
- Process-oriented and programmatic: builds structure through processes that can be relied upon across the organization.
We offer competitive compensation. The base salary range for this role determined based on location, experience, educational background, and market data.
- Comprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Savings Matching Program
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Generous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Paid Family Leave
- Short Term & Long Term Disability
- Training & Development
- Commuter Benefits
- Flexible, hybrid workplace model
- Equity grants (applicable to full-time employees)
Benefits 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.
Export Control
Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.
Skills Required
- PhD in electrical engineering, physics, applied physics, or related discipline.
- Experience designing and testing optical front-end receivers and transmitters (TIAs, drivers), CTLE, DFE, ADC, DAC, oscillators in advanced CMOS.
- Power user of Cadence Virtuoso, Cadence Spectre, Verilog-A, IBIS-AMI simulators.
- Ability and desire to collaborate in a cross-disciplinary team.
- Excellent written and communication skills.
- Demonstrated strong problem solving skills for problems without obvious solutions.
- Capacity to comply with U.S. export control laws.
- Understanding of signal processing (equalization, DSP, coding) and signal integrity in optical communication.
- Experience in silicon photonic devices (Mach-Zehnder and microring modulators, thermally tuned components).
- Culture fit: willing to learn, self-starter, innovative, data-driven, and process-oriented.
Lightmatter Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Lightmatter and has not been reviewed or approved by Lightmatter.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered competitive for specialized photonics and AI‑hardware roles, with posted ranges and third‑party totals aligning to strong market levels. Compensation for niche roles is framed as consistent with top‑tier hardware/photonics expectations.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare is described as comprehensive, covering medical, dental, and vision in current postings. Additional protections like life insurance and disability are also called out.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity grants for full‑time employees are commonly included alongside base pay. Some postings also mention performance‑based equity components.
Lightmatter Insights
What We Do
Lightmatter is a startup photonics company that has pioneered a new paradigm in processor chip architecture that uses photons instead of electrons. Now the leader in the photonic AI compute “space race,” this new class of high performance semiconductors is the foundation of Lightmatter’s mission to enable the growth of computing, reduce harmful emissions associated with this growth, and democratize computing for all. Lightmatter's technology accelerates critical operations in deep neural networks, using an array of programmable photonic elements fabricated alongside transistors in conventional computer chip fabrication processes. Our close-knit team of engineers has created an integrated photonics chip and ultra-high performance interconnect that is faster, more efficient, and cooler than anything else on earth (or anything ever experienced before) to power the next giant leaps in human progress.
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