Sr. Staff Photonics Systems Engineer

Job Title

Sr. Staff Photonics Systems Engineer

Role Summary

The Sr. Staff Photonics Systems Engineer will develop integrated, scalable solutions for silicon photonics used in AI datacenter communications and computation. The role partners with internal cross-disciplinary engineering teams and external manufacturing partners to assess feasibility, create engineering plans, execute product designs, and validate hardware performance.

Work focuses on balancing performance, reliability, power, schedule, and cost for high-volume laser and optical products. Base salary range: $230,000—$267,000 USD; total compensation includes equity and other components.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 8+ years of relevant industry experience. For Ph.D. holders, at least 3 years of relevant post-degree experience (or equivalent practical experience).

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and validate high-volume laser and photonic systems, collaborating across teams and suppliers.

• Engage with cross-functional teams to design and deliver high-volume laser and optical products.
• Collaborate with product and architecture teams to develop new laser and photonics concepts and translate requirements into engineering plans.
• Resolve design and manufacturing challenges for high-performance laser solutions.
• Work across electronics, photonics, mechanical, thermal, packaging, and firmware teams to meet performance, power, and production targets.
• Define production test and validation protocols; characterize components and debug prototype-to-validation test results.
• Manage relationships with external vendors to ensure timely development and delivery of processes and components.

Requirements

Concise list of must-have and nice-to-have qualifications.

• Must-have: Minimum 8+ years of experience in photonic devices, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), and semiconductor physics.
• Strong understanding of silicon photonics and its application in datacom systems.
• Proven experience collaborating with photonics design, packaging, thermal, system engineering, firmware, and manufacturing teams.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills for ambiguous or novel technical challenges.
• Experience defining production test protocols and characterizing hardware from prototype through validation.
• Experience working with external vendors and managing development schedules in production contexts.
• Ability to comply with U.S. export control laws and related requirements.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with lasers and laser physics.
• Experience in lasers or silicon photonics targeted at datacom applications.
• Experience with control systems and system engineering.
• Experience in high-volume manufacturing and demonstrated technical leadership of cross-functional teams.

Education Requirements

Ph.D. in Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related discipline with at least 3 years of relevant post-degree experience, or equivalent practical experience.

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.