Staff Photonics Design and Layout Engineer
LightmatterJob Title
Staff Photonics Design and Layout Engineer
Role Summary
Design and layout block- and chip-scale photonic circuits and verify their performance across the full product lifecycle, from concept through tapeout and bring-up. Work closely with photonics, product, architecture, analog, digital and packaging teams to floorplan, integrate, and validate photonic subsystems.
Join a small technical team focused on building integrated photonic solutions and delivering production-grade tapeouts.
Experience Level
Senior — expects PhD + 3 years industry experience or MS + 10 years industry experience in photonics, electrical engineering, physics, or a related discipline.
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include design, layout, verification, and cross-functional integration of photonic circuits.
- Translate product requirements into optimal photonic solutions and floorplans.
- Perform clean-sheet design and layout of block- and system-level photonic circuits.
- Integrate on-chip photonics with analog, digital, and packaging subsystems.
- Execute layout-driven photonic simulation and verification; identify and mitigate performance bottlenecks.
- Maintain and improve photonic layout, verification, and integration flows across processes and foundries.
- Contribute to proprietary PDK development and custom foundry flows.
- Participate in architecture and chip-design problem solving and contribute design ideas.
- Publish and present technical results at optics/photonics conferences.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and proven experience; preferred skills listed separately.
Must-have:
- Deep understanding of silicon photonics fundamentals and device performance trade-offs.
- Proficiency with Python for tooling, automation, and verification.
- Experience with script-based photonic circuit design and layout (GDSFactory or similar).
- Demonstrated track record of multiple photonic tapeouts and production-focused execution.
- Strong communication skills and experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
- Ability to work independently on both highly constrained and loosely defined problems.
Nice-to-have:
- Experience with product-grade photonic tapeouts and foundry processes.
- Experience with foundry and custom PDKs.
- Experience with photonic and/or analog circuit design in Cadence Virtuoso.
- Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and meet project milestones.
Education Requirements
MS + 10 years industry experience OR PhD + 3 years industry experience in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Photonics, or a related technical discipline.
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.
