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 Role
We are hiring a Sr./Principal Mixed-Signal Digital Architect. The selected candidate will partner with external facing teams at Lightmatter and the internal engineering team to deliver groundbreaking products to the market. As an architect, you will provide detailed technical documents that describe what needs to be built to the engineering team. This will require a solid understanding of process technology, state of the art in chip design, and clear communication skills. You will represent the company externally at technical conferences as an example of our technical leadership.
We are seeking a motivated and dedicated hands-on Digital Architect to help develop chips for our next-generation communication architecture alongside a team of world-class scientists and engineers.
In this role, you will define the architecture of the digital circuits that enable a groundbreaking photonic-based communication fabric. Your work will not only enable the AMS/photonic devices at low-level but also the necessary interfaces with the firmware/software. You will interact directly with our vendors and customers. You will also define the product and technological roadmaps along with suitable design and verification methodologies.
You will report directly to the Chief Scientist and work closely with our digital, analog, photonic, and software teams. We are particularly looking for someone with expertise in architecting digital circuits to enable high-speed AMS circuits, with a strong preference for someone with experience in photonic circuits.
Join a tight-knit team where each individual’s contributions directly influence the company's and product's success. 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.
Responsibilities- Be the digital architecture owner of Lightmatter’s Passage product. Work closely with the rest of the architecture team, chip-design team, and the software team.
- Responsible for the digital architecture from initial concept through high-volume production. Work closely with the technical program manager(s) to plan, organize, and execute.
- Lead direct collaboration with top tier semiconductor customer(s) throughout the product development process at the system architecture level.
- Architect and specify system level digital designs integrating complex AMS and photonic circuits. These circuits include high-speed drivers and receivers, SerDes, ADC/DAC, photonic modulators and detectors.
- Collaborate with the product team to develop our future technological and product roadmap.
- Work closely with test and validation engineers to validate hardware against simulation prediction.
- Actively collaborate with the RTL and DV teams to enable block-level implementation and verification, respectively.
- Author, review, and validate architectural specifications. With the product and applications engineering teams, also produce customer-facing product datasheet and reference designs.
- Identify possible improvements as well as possible pitfalls (including mitigation strategies) around executing the proposed architectures.
Qualifications:
- 12+ years and a Masters’ degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering
- In-depth knowledge of power-efficient digital design flow for high-speed AMS electronics, preferably on photonic communication channels.
- Proven track record of delivering successful high-volume silicon in the market. Also, proven understanding of silicon product development flow.
- In-depth knowledge of digital circuit design in a high-speed analog/photonic link, including device bring-up, control, and digital signal processing.
- Demonstrated strong problem solving skills specifically pertaining to problems that do not have obvious solutions.
- Demonstrated strong customer communication, with timely responses and consistently positive feedback
- Understanding of SerDes PCS layer and equalization along with forward error-correction schemes.
- Ability and desire to collaborate in a cross-disciplinary team.
- Power user of multiple development tools, including CAD tools, SPICE simulators, IBIS-AMI simulators, and general programming languages (e.g., MATLAB or Python).
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.
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.
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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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