Senior Staff Integrated Photonics Laser Systems Architect

Job Title

Senior Staff Integrated Photonics Laser Systems Architect

Role Summary

Define the architecture and specifications for Lightmatter's Guide laser platform and the Data-SOA amplifier used in optical links, translating product and customer requirements into producible designs. You will own trade-offs and technical direction, and collaborate with device, circuit, packaging, controls, and systems teams to take architectures from concept to high-volume production.

This is a senior technical role on a small architecture team; work location is a flexible hybrid model in Boston, MA or Mountain View, CA.

Experience Level

Senior - expects 8+ years of hands-on experience in optical devices, PICs, and semiconductor physics with leadership of product architecture across development to volume manufacturing.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include defining architectures, writing specifications, validating designs, and coordinating cross-functional execution.

• Define and own the Guide multi-wavelength laser module architecture from concept through high-volume production.
• Define and own the Data-SOA amplifier architecture and its placement and control within optical links.
• Produce detailed architecture specifications and interface requirements for hardware and software teams.
• Collaborate with Passage product and other internal teams to align system-level architectures.
• Validate architectures and models through hands-on testing of dies, prototype assemblies, and packaged modules.
• Work with test engineers to define production test and validation protocols; analyze and debug test results.
• Engage external vendors to develop and deliver components and processes to schedule and quality targets.
• Contribute to roadmap planning to improve performance, scalability, power consumption, and cost.
• Publish and present technical results at conferences and participate in standards or community activities as appropriate.

Requirements

Must-have qualifications and skills; preferred items listed separately.

• 8+ years of hands-on experience with optical devices, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and semiconductor physics, including architecting laser or optical transceiver solutions from concept to volume manufacturing.
• Proven track record delivering product specifications and guiding cross-disciplinary teams (electronics, photonics, mechanical, thermal, controls) to production-ready designs.
• Expertise in mathematical modeling and simulation using Python for link-budget modeling, corner evaluation, and Monte Carlo analysis.
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and ability to drive solutions for ambiguous, open-ended engineering challenges.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills for interactions with multidisciplinary teams and executive leadership.
• Hands-on validation experience: die and module testing, prototype debug, and production test development.
• Experience managing external vendors and development timelines for critical components and processes.
• Ability to comply with U.S. export control laws and related restrictions.

Preferred / nice-to-have:

• Experience architecting lasers for datacom applications and integrated/external laser sources for CPO or optical I/O engines.
• Experience with semiconductor optical amplifiers (gain, noise figure, saturation, pattern effects, cross-gain modulation) and III-V/silicon heterogeneous SOA integration.
• Solid foundation in semiconductor laser physics (comb sources, DFB, ECLs, RIN, linewidth, thermal/wavelength locking) and silicon photonics simulations.
• Experience with wavelength locking, thermal tuning, power-control loops, and co-simulation against physical models.
• Track record taking photonic products into high-volume manufacturing, including reliability and eye-safety qualification.
• Demonstrated technical leadership of cross-functional teams and contributions to standards, publications, or patents.

Education Requirements

PhD in Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related technical field is required. Fields mentioned include photonics, electrical engineering, applied physics and other closely related technical disciplines.

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.