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!
About this job
We are looking for an MS or PhD Candidate to fill the internship position within a Photonics Layout and Verification team. In this role, you will be working on execution and verification for some of the state of the art block- and chip-scale photonic interconnects. You will gain unique experience with the industry-leading photonics integration and verification flows. An ideal candidate must have practical experience with silicon photonics complemented with strong human and agentic coding skills.
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 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.
Responsibilities:
- Perform rigorous layout- and netlist-driven photonic simulation and verification, identify performance bottlenecks and troubleshoot issues.
- Run Monte Carlo and corner analysis.
- Help further develop and improve photonic layout, verification and integration flows for multiple photonic processes and foundries
- Contribute to proprietary PDK development
Requirements:
- MS or PhD Candidate in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science or similar
- Understanding of fundamental concepts of silicon photonics
- Familiarity with of a wide variety of silicon photonics devices, knowledge of their key performance metrics
- Proficiency with Python
- Experience with script-based photonic circuit design and simulations using GDSFactory, PhotonForge or similar
- Proficiency with AI and agentic workflows
- Good communication skills, demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams
Our internship hourly rates are a standard pay determined based on the position and your location, year in school, degree, and experience.
- 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
- MS or PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, or a similar field
- Understanding of fundamental silicon photonics concepts
- Familiarity with a wide variety of silicon photonics devices and their key performance metrics
- Proficiency with Python
- Experience with script-based photonic circuit design and simulations using GDSFactory, PhotonForge, or similar tools
- Proficiency with AI and agentic workflows
- Good communication skills and demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams
- Capacity to comply with federally mandated U.S. export control requirements
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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