Expert, Chip Manufacturing & Industrialization

LightQ; Hamburg; On-site; EUR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

LIGHT Q in Hamburg seeks a senior packaging and process integration engineer to bridge lab-level photonics development with scalable manufacturing. You will own flow definition, supplier partnerships, yield targets, and validation plans for high-volume assembly.

Ideal candidates have hands-on micro-fabrication experience, a strong manufacturability mindset, and a track record moving devices from lab demos to production-ready processes.

Qualifications

• Hands-on expertise in advanced micro-fabrication and process integration.
• Ability to define scalable process flows for novel optoelectronic devices.
• Proven record taking a device from lab to production-ready process.
• Experience with photonics packaging, wafer bonding, or related packaging.

Responsibilities

• Define and develop process flows for silicon photonics packaging and integration.
• Own the relationship with external foundries, OSATs, and contract manufacturers.
• Own yield targets, root cause analysis, and reliability closure.
• Define alignment strategies, tolerances, and validation plans for high-volume assembly.
• Report results internally and to customers and partners.

Skills

Process engineering

Relentless execution

Manufacturability instinct

Partner fluency

Analytical rigor

DOE & SPC

Lab-to-manufacturing translation

Education

PhD or MSc in physics, materials science, electrical engineering, or a comparable field

Job description

ABOUT LIGHT Q

The demand for AI is rapidly outgrowing the electronic hardware it runs on. At LIGHT Q , we’re building next-generation computing to unlock sustainable AI: based on light, not electrons, and grounded in ultrafast laser technology, our platform is orders of magnitude faster and far more energy-efficient.We are a team of internationally recognised scientists, proficient engineers and seasoned operators. We are based in Hamburg, one of the global epicentres of ultrafast photonics.

THE ROLE

At LIGHT Q , breakthrough photonics only matters if it can be built at scale. You are the bridge between our lab-stage photonic tensor core and a process an external fab or OSAT can actually run. You own the translation of packaging and integration flows into scalable, manufacturable, and reliable hardware. No fixed playbook. You work directly with a world-class founding team of physicists, engineers, and operators building the next computing paradigm.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Process Development & Industrialization — Define and develop process flows for silicon photonics packaging and integration, applying Design for Manufacturing principles from the earliest stage of device development.
• Fab & OSAT Partnerships — Own the relationship with external foundries, OSATs, and contract manufacturers, and drive development activities and technology transfer with outsourced fabrication facilities.
• Yield & Reliability — Own yield targets, root cause analysis, and reliability closure across packaging and assembly, and build the data-driven monitoring that catches issues before they become production risk.
• Test & Characterization — Define alignment strategies, tolerances, and validation plans for high-volume assembly, and interpret in-line, electrical, and optical test data to relate it back to the fabrication process.
• Technical Reporting — Report results and progress both internally and to customers and partners, and represent LightQ in discussions with fabs, OSATs, and other semiconductor players.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Process engineering depth — You have hands-on expertise in advanced micro-fabrication and process integration, and you can create or modify complete process flows for novel optoelectronic devices.
• Relentless execution — You track every experiment, every test lot, and every partner deliverable without dropping a single thread.
• Manufacturability instinct — You think in terms of tolerances, yield drivers, and scalability from day one, not after the first failed batch.
• Partner fluency — You work naturally with external fabs, OSATs, and tool vendors, and you can walk into a partner’s facility and diagnose issues on the spot.
• Analytical rigor — You are proficient in DOE and SPC tools, and you turn ambiguous process data into a clear, defensible path forward.
• 7+ years of experience in semiconductor or photonics process integration, packaging, or device industrialization.
• Proven record taking a novel or non-standard device from lab demonstrator to a process an external fab or OSAT can run.
• Background in some of: photolithography, thin-film deposition, wafer bonding, wet etch, or flip-chip and wafer-level packaging.
• PhD or MSc in physics, materials science, electrical engineering, or a comparable field.

If you are passionate about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in photonics, working on something that genuinely matters and thrive in a high-energy, fast-paced environment, we want to hear from you.