Staff Hardware Validation Engineer

Job Title

Staff Hardware Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Design, develop, and build photonic test systems for characterization and validation of silicon photonics-based optical interconnect products. Work on chip bring-up, electro-optic link-level testing, and lab validation to ensure products meet specifications.

Collaborate with device, hardware, software, analog and digital design teams to support end-to-end product validation, qualification, and interoperability testing.

Experience Level

Senior — staff-level engineering role. (Title indicates seniority; specific years of experience not stated.)

Responsibilities

Accountable for planning and executing validation activities for next-generation optical interconnect chips and modules.

• Develop and execute chip validation plans aligned to product specifications, xVT, and interoperability goals.
• Lead chip bring-up efforts: bench setup, test fixture configuration, and initial functional verification.
• Configure and maintain lab test equipment and test benches for electro-optic and link-level measurements.
• Perform electro-optic link-level testing, characterization, and troubleshooting in the lab.
• Analyze test data, generate reports, and document results for cross-functional teams.
• Collaborate with design, software, and product teams to triage issues and drive root-cause analysis.
• Contribute to test automation and scripting to improve repeatability and throughput.

Requirements

Key technical skills and practical lab experience required for this role. Preferred skills are listed separately.

• Must-have: Hands-on experience with electro-optic link testing and characterization in a lab environment for data communications.
• Must-have: Proficiency using standard bench test equipment for high-speed data communications and transceiver testing.
• Must-have: Familiarity with PCB design and hardware testing/debugging of electro-optic circuits.
• Must-have: Solid understanding of electrical and optical transmitter/receiver building blocks and ability to troubleshoot them.
• Must-have: Basic scripting skills to automate lab tests and analyze results.
• Must-have: Ability to work cross-functionally with design and software engineers to drive validation execution.
• Must-have: Ability to comply with U.S. export control requirements as required by the role.
• Nice-to-have: Experience leading or mentoring junior engineers in lab validation workflows.
• Nice-to-have: Familiarity with industry standards such as IEEE, OIF-CEI, or similar.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with NRZ and PAM4 signaling and high-speed data communication systems.
• Nice-to-have: Proficiency in Python, MATLAB, or similar tools for scripting and automation.

Education Requirements

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field. PhD is a plus.

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.