Staff Photonics Design & PDK Modeling Engineer
Job description
Lightmatter is leading the revolution in AI data center infrastructure, enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. The company invented the world’s first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, capable of connecting thousands to millions of processors at the speed of light in extreme-scale data centers for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads.
Lightmatter raised $400 million in its Series D round, reaching a valuation of $4.4 billion. We will continue to accelerate the development of data center photonics and grow every department at Lightmatter!
If you're passionate about tackling complex challenges, making an impact, and being an expert in your craft, join our team of brilliant scientists, engineers, and accomplished industry leaders.
Lightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!
We are hiring a Photonics PDK Modeling Engineer to join our team. In this role, you will develop our internal Process Design Kit (PDK). You will act as the architect of our component library, bridging the gap between photonics device design and system-level verification. You will develop robust compact models for active and passive components, ensuring that our simulation environment accurately predicts the behavior of our physical layouts. You will work heavily in Python, EDA tools, applying software engineering rigor to the challenges of photonic hardware design.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain a library of pcells using Python-based frameworks. Ensure strict synchronization between physical layout, logical netlists, and behavioral models.
- Create and verify physics based behavior models for passive and active devices.
- Design test structure, develop test plans for device FOMs extraction. Work with test engineers to get silicon data.
- Validate models against lab measurements. Perform data fitting and statistical analysis to align model parameters with real-world silicon performance.
- Automated Verification: Implement regression testing and Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines to ensure PDK updates do not break legacy designs or connectivity logic.
- Actively collaborate with design, analog, digital and architecture engineers to deliver high impact tape-outs
Qualifications
- Master’s +5 years experience or PhD +3 years experience in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, or related field.
- Deep understanding of photonic device physics and experience in device simulation.
- Experience building behavioral models for circuit simulators (e.g., Lumerical INTERCONNECT, Cadence, Synopsys OptSim, or custom Python solvers).
- Experienced in Python for modeling, automation, and data analysis. Comfortable with object-oriented programming and scientific libraries (NumPy, SciPy).
- Python based layout experience.
- Demonstrated strong problem solving skills for problems without obvious solutions
Preferred Qualifications
- Proficiency with python-based layout tools such as gdstk, GDSFactory, and KLayout
- Experience with Python-native circuit simulation ecosystems (e.g., SAX, Photontorch, Simphony).
- Experience with verilogA/spectre equivalent circuit modeling for photonics device
- Prior experience in using foundry-provided process design kits (PDKs), adhering to specific design rules and constraints, well understanding of DRC, LVS, etc.
- Experience working on large-scale designs using industry standard environments such as Cadence Virtuoso
- Experience in taping out and testing large-scale photonic integrated circuits, including familiarity with relevant testing equipment and methodologies.
- Possess strong project execution skills, demonstrating the ability to effectively manage multiple design priorities, adhere to project timelines, and meet critical milestones.
We offer competitive compensation. The base salary range for this role determined based on location, experience, educational background, and market data.
Salary Range: total compensation goes beyond base salary, it also includes a new hire equity grant, annual performance-based equity, and other rewards that recognize your impact and contribution.$185,000—$220,000 USDBenefits
- Comprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
- Retirement Savings Matching Program
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Generous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
- Paid Family Leave
- Short Term & Long Term Disability
- Training & Development
- Commuter Benefits
- Flexible, hybrid workplace model
- Equity grants (applicable to full-time employees)
Benefits eligibility may vary depending on your employment status and location. Lightmatter recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.
Export Control
Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.
Skills mentioned
Lightmatter is a pioneering company in the field of photonic computing, developing specialized chips and chip communication technology, known as interconnects, that leverage light for data processing and communication. Founded in September 2017 by Nicholas Harris, Darius Bunandar, and Thomas Graham, Lightmatter aims to revolutionize computational power and energy efficiency, particularly for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and data-intensive applications. The company's mission is to accelerate computing advancements to address significant global challenges while minimizing the environmental impact associated with traditional computing. As silicon-based chips approach their physical and economic limitations, Lightmatter's photonic technology offers a path forward by enabling faster data transport and reduced energy consumption, which is crucial for the infrastructure needed for large-scale chip interconnection in modern data centers. Lightmatter's core product offerings include Envise, a photonic AI accelerator, and Passage, a photonic interconnect platform. Envise is designed to handle the massive matrix multiplications required in deep learning, offering a more energy and cost-efficient solution for large AI workloads compared to traditional electronic GPUs. Passage provides a comprehensive photonic interconnect solution that integrates with existing data center infrastructure to enable higher bandwidth data movement and reduced power consumption for chips. This technology is designed to allow for the scaling of AI infrastructure by providing dense optical interconnects between chiplets, complete with integrated lasers and switching for dynamic network reconfiguration. The company's Idiom software stack complements its hardware by enabling customers to maximize performance on Envise through neural network model compilation, execution, debugging tools, profiling capabilities, and model optimization features. Lightmatter's innovations are positioned to address the increasing demand for energy-efficient and cost-effective data processing solutions from data centers, technology companies developing AI applications, and cloud service providers.
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