Chip Firmware Validation Engineer
LightmatterJob Title
Chip Firmware Validation Engineer
Role Summary
Develop and validate device software and firmware for photonic compute and interconnect products. Work on firmware validation, reliability testing, data analysis, and firmware/software stack optimization in collaboration with hardware and systems teams.
Join a small, cross-disciplinary engineering team focused on building production photonic AI processors and interconnects.
Experience Level
Mid-level — requires around 5+ years of relevant experience (ASIC firmware validation and embedded systems).
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities for this role include:
- Develop and validate embedded firmware and device software for photonic products.
- Define and execute firmware and software validation test plans and reliability/FIT testing.
- Collaborate with photonics, analog, digital, systems, and networking engineers to define control architecture and product requirements.
- Debug and troubleshoot embedded systems using tools such as GDB, JTAG, and logic analyzers.
- Gather, analyze, and report validation and test data; drive corrective actions and firmware improvements.
- Contribute to product architecture, validation criteria, and usability requirements.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and experience:
- 5+ years of experience in ASIC firmware validation or equivalent firmware validation roles.
- Strong understanding of hardware–software integration and embedded system communication/control.
- Embedded software development experience on Linux; experience building and managing projects with Git and CMake.
- Proficiency in Python, C, and C++.
- Experience with data gathering, analysis, and reporting; familiarity with databases such as MongoDB.
- Practical knowledge of peripherals, buses, and embedded communications protocols.
- Ability to debug complex systems with GDB, JTAG, and logic analyzers.
- Must be able to comply with U.S. export control laws as required for this role.
Nice-to-have:
- Experience with Snowflake reporting, CMIS, OpenBMC, or similar environments.
- Familiarity with optical test & measurement methodologies and characterizing optical components.
- Experience developing firmware for photonic transceivers or similar optical systems.
Education Requirements
Bachelor's degree (BS) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field is listed; the posting pairs this with 5+ years of experience. (No alternative "equivalent experience" language was provided.)
About the Company
Company: Lightmatter
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Lightmatter develops photonic AI data-center infrastructure and optical chips for extreme-scale AI and HPC. The company invented the Passage 3D‑stacked photonics engine to provide high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnects across large-scale processors and raised $400M in Series D financing at a reported $4.4B valuation.
