Staff Electrical Design Engineer

Lightmatter; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 186,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

Retirement matching

Equity grants

Hybrid workplace

Paid time off

Job summary

Lightmatter is seeking a Staff/Sr Staff Electrical Design Engineer to lead the development of silicon photonics based AI accelerators and interconnect products. You will own hardware systems from concept through production, collaborating with mechanical, packaging, IC, software teams, and contract manufacturers.

You’ll design power, memory, and interconnect circuits, perform simulations, review PCB layouts, and ensure manufacturability with high yield.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering.
• 8+ years of system-level electrical design experience.
• Proficient in schematic design using Cadence, Mentor, or Altium.
• In-depth knowledge of VRMs, high-speed SERDES, and PCIe/Ethernet/QSPI/I3C/I2C interfaces.
• 5+ years of lab experimentation and cross-functional integration leadership.
• Experience with thermal solutions for ICs and board-level systems.
• Familiar with PLM tools such as Oracle Agile, Arena, or Omnify PLM.

Responsibilities

• Define system-level hardware requirements with system architect and leads.
• Electrical design of power, memory, and interconnect circuits in analog and digital domains.
• Select electrical and optical components based on IC and photonics input.
• Develop conceptual designs, physical modeling, and simulations for chip-modules.
• Oversee PCB layout design and enforce electrical constraint rules.
• Ensure manufacturability with high yield and robustness.
• Qualify chip and system electrical properties.
• Laboratory validation of boards and systems.
• Lead integration with mechanical, software, IC, and other teams.
• Support CM during prototype and production to resolve issues.
• Coordinate with component vendors and supply partners.
• Research new components and technologies to meet goals.

Skills

System-level electrical design

Cross-functional collaboration

High-speed signaling

Laboratory debugging

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering

Tools

Cadence

Mentor

Altium

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!
Staff Electrical Design Engineer
We are looking for a Senior Electrical Design Engineer to contribute to the development of the next generation of silicon photonics based artificial intelligence accelerators and interconnect products.
In this role, you will lead board and system solutions that leverage Lightmatter’s technology to enable advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence, and large-scale interconnect platforms.
You will lead and own HW systems efforts, collaborate closely with teams across hardware and software, including mechanical, packaging, and IC engineering, to design, integrate, troubleshoot and release system-level products at the leading edge of innovation.
Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the system architect and technical leads to define system-level hardware requirements and spec
• Electrical design of power, memory, and interconnect circuits, working in both the analog and digital domains
• Identify electrical and optical components to fit the application based on specifications provided by the IC and photonics engineering teams
• Starting from fundamental concepts and system considerations you will develop conceptual designs, physical modeling, and simulations of chip-modules and systems
• Oversee and review PCB layout designs, providing complete and detailed electrical constraint rules
• Ensure the board and system is manufacturable to the latest technologies with high yield and robustness
• Qualification of chip and system electrical properties
• Perform laboratory validation of boards and systems
• Lead integration with mechanical, software, IC, and other related teams
• Support contract manufacturing during prototype and production phase to resolve any issues
• Work with component vendors and other supply partners
• Research new components, processes, and technologies to meet product goals

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering
• 8+ years of related experience in system-level electrical design, having successfully taken several products from concept to production.
• Proficient in schematic design using Cadence, Mentor, or Altium tool set (Altium preferred)
• In depth knowledge on VRMs, high speed SERDES, CPUs and various interfaces/protocols such as PCIe, Ethernet, QSPI, I3C, I2C, etc
• 5+ years of experience in lab experimentation, non-intrusive circuit debugging, and leading cross-functional integration teams
• Experience in working with thermal solutions for integrated circuits and their board level systems
• Familiar with Product Lifecycle Management tools, e.g. Oracle Agile, Arena, or Omnify PLM with an understanding of BOM and ECO management

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing electrical systems for networking or similar industries
• Knowledge of integrated circuit layout, and designing a carrier PCBA for it
• Knowledge of common manufacturing and design processes
• Familiarity with Systems Engineering principles
• Familiar with 3D Mechanical CAD tools, e.g. Solidworks or AutoCAD

This role is open to two levels Staff and Sr Staff. Leveling placement and salary range is dependent on education, years of experience, and interview performance.
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.: $186,000 USD - $250,000 USD
Benefits

• 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.