---
title: 'Research Engineer, Semiconductor at Periodic Labs'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-semiconductor-periodic-labs-menlo-park-7pcqbzy21h6n'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Research Engineer, Semiconductor at Periodic Labs

- **Company:** Periodic Labs
- **Location:** Menlo Park, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-08-08
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs/95d290bd-6420-42e8-82a0-f0230722c19c

## Job description

## About Periodic Labs

We’re an AI and physical sciences company building state-of-the-art models to accelerate breakthroughs across materials, energy, and beyond. Backed by world-class investors and growing rapidly, we operate at the pace the frontier requires. Our team brings deep expertise, genuine ownership, and an insatiable drive to push the boundaries of what’s scientifically possible.

## About the Role

As a Research Engineer, Semiconductor, you’ll own device-level validation of our materials work, taking novel thin-film stacks from deposition through patterned test vehicles to measure electrical performance. You’ll design and run short-loop experiments that demonstrate how materials and interfaces translate into device behavior, leveraging both internal and external lab resources. You’ll also contribute technical expertise to customer-facing engagements, and this role blends deep hands-on capability with the flexibility to work across teams and partners to solve hard materials problems.

## What You’ll Do

- Design, fabricate, and characterize short-loop device test vehicles that demonstrate material and device performance against clear electrical targets.
- Build patterned devices end-to-end using photolithography, direct-write laser lithography, or e-beam lithography, integrated with deposition, etch, and metrology.
- Deposit thin-film stacks with engineered, complex interfaces using PVD, PLD, MBE, and ALD/CVD techniques.
- Perform electrical characterization on probe stations, and design and build custom measurement test benches where commercial tools fall short.
- Connect materials and interface properties to device outcomes, feeding insights back into film-stack and process development.
- Contribute technical expertise to customer-facing engagements, translating customer needs into experimental plans and results.
- Document experimental methodology, results, and learnings to feed both internal knowledge and AI training infrastructure.

You Will Thrive in This Role If You Have

- MS or PhD in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field, plus relevant industry experience.
- Semiconductor industry experience in device development or process integration, background at an IDM, foundry, or memory manufacturer strongly preferred.
- Strong command of device physics and integration flows, with a track record of demonstrating device performance in short-loop test vehicles.
- Hands-on fabrication experience spanning lithography (photo, laser direct-write, or e-beam), thin-film deposition, etch, and metrology.
- A deep understanding of how materials selection and interface quality drive device performance.
- Proficiency in probe-station device measurement, plus the ability to architect and assemble custom electrical test setups.
- A strong condensed matter physics foundation, spintronics, magnetic materials, or quantum phenomena, is a plus.
- Working knowledge of emerging memory and logic device architectures is a plus.
- Startup-ready mindset: able to operate effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment while implementing industry-standard best practices.

Mechanics

- Minimum education: Master’s degree with relevant experience
- Location: Menlo Park, CA
- Compensation: $220k - $300k + equity
- Visa sponsorship: Yes, we sponsor visas and will do everything we can to assist in this process with our legal support.

## About Periodic Labs

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Periodic Labs is building AI scientists and autonomous laboratories to accelerate scientific discovery in the physical sciences, starting with materials design and semiconductor research.
- **Entity Type**: Private (seed-stage, $300M total funding raised in 2025)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (primary) and Menlo Park, California, USA (dual locations) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Founded**: 2025 [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Founders**: Ekin Dogus Cubuk (Co-Founder) and other undisclosed founding team members with backgrounds at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs), [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Physical sciences R&D, artificial intelligence, autonomous laboratory systems
- **Target customers**: B2B – enterprises in semiconductor manufacturing, materials science, energy, and other deep-tech sectors requiring experimental research
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Our goal is to create an AI scientist” that can autonomously hypothesize, run experiments, and learn from results to discover new materials and accelerate technological progress [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Products & Services
- **AI Scientist**: A suite of AI models trained to generate hypotheses, design experiments, and interpret results across physical science domains.
- **Autonomous Laboratories**: Fully automated, high-throughput experimental platforms that produce large volumes of high-quality data (including negative results) to train AI models. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **Custom Agents for Industry**: Tailored AI agents for engineers and researchers, e.g., helping a semiconductor manufacturer analyze heat dissipation data to accelerate iteration. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private seed-stage company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $300M in a single seed round (2025) [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: a16z, Felicis, DST, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture arm), Accel, Emerson Collective, Fellows Fund, Coatue; individual backers include Jeff Bezos, Elad Gil, Eric Schmidt, Jeff Dean. Also collaborating with academic advisors from Stanford, Northwestern, and more. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/), [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Growth Signals**: 40 employees as of mid-2026, with monthly headcount growth of +19.6% and 25 active job postings (+47.1% quarterly growth) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary data generation**: Autonomous labs produce massive, unique datasets (including valuable negative results) that do not exist in public literature, creating a data moat.
- **Founding team pedigree**: Core team co-created ChatGPT, DeepMind’s GNoME, OpenAI’s Operator (Agent), MatterGen, and scaled autonomous physics labs – rare concentration of AI + science talent. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **End-to-end integration**: AI models, simulation, and physical experimentation are all in-house, enabling rapid closed-loop learning.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale autonomous labs**: Expand capacity to generate experimental data across multiple physical science domains.
- **Target high-impact problems**: Superconductor discovery, semiconductor heat dissipation, and other materials challenges that can unlock Moore’s Law, advanced energy grids, and space travel. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
- **Develop the first generation of AI scientists**: Train models that can operate independently of human input across the entire scientific method.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: “From bits to atoms” – a deep-tech startup blending frontier AI with hands-on lab work. Emphasis on rapid iteration and real-world impact.
- **Work policy**: In-office preferred; primary offices in Menlo Park and San Francisco, CA. Most roles are on-site. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/periodic-labs)
- **Notable perks**: Work alongside world-class AI researchers and experimental scientists; access to cutting-edge automated lab equipment; early-stage equity and high-growth trajectory.
- **Engineering culture**: 34% of employees are in technical roles; talent sourced from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, xAI, and Stanford – strong peer learning environment. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)

## Sources
1. [periodic.com](https://periodic.com/)
2. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/periodic-labs)
3. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/periodic-labs)
4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/periodic-labs)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/periodic-labs)

## Other roles at Periodic Labs

- [Computational Scientist, Differentiable Physics](https://feeny.ai/job/computational-scientist-differentiable-physics-periodic-labs-menlo-park-0y6vkjnce8d0) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Research Scientist/Research Engineer, Materials](https://feeny.ai/job/research-scientist-research-engineer-materials-periodic-labs-menlo-park-gx5csg53tr95) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Technical Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-recruiter-periodic-labs-menlo-park-04dyj1a17h1w) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Business Operations, Product & Science](https://feeny.ai/job/business-operations-product-science-periodic-labs-menlo-park-bqebn8py4dnh) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Process Technician, Thin Films](https://feeny.ai/job/process-technician-thin-films-periodic-labs-menlo-park-v0m9kw9t9506) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Research Engineer, Lab Automation](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-lab-automation-periodic-labs-menlo-park-x22bb9y5rh0q) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Research Engineer, Midtraining](https://feeny.ai/job/research-engineer-midtraining-periodic-labs-menlo-park-0xmve48my4pp) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-periodic-labs-menlo-park-4rk1qv8jx0ps) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Instrumentation & Controls  (Technician/Electrician)](https://feeny.ai/job/instrumentation-controls-technician-electrician-periodic-labs-menlo-park-4k691hbr206e) — Menlo Park, CA
- [Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Technician - contract to hire](https://feeny.ai/job/environmental-health-safety-ehs-technician-contract-to-hire-periodic-labs-menlo-nagm3qjvz6b3) — Menlo Park, CA