---
title: 'Staff /Sr Staff Laser Module & Systems Characterization Engineer at Lightmatter'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-sr-staff-laser-module-systems-characterization-engineer-lightmatter-1wcg5m40jtae'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-04'
---

# Staff /Sr Staff Laser Module & Systems Characterization Engineer at Lightmatter

- **Company:** Lightmatter
- **Location:** Mountain View, CA
- **Compensation:** $187k–$240k
- **Posted:** 2026-08-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04
- **Apply:** https://boards.greenhouse.io/lightmatter/jobs/5394690008?gh_jid=5394690008

## 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 looking for a Laser Characterization Engineer to join our Laser team. You will be the hands-on technical owner for bring-up, characterization, and validation of Lightmatter's laser modules and photonic systems — taking products from first-light through manufacturing qualification and production hand-off.

You will work closely with controls engineers, photonics engineers, and the production team to translate module performance specifications into reproducible, manufacturable results. This is an individual-contributor role with direct ownership of  test plan development, characterization, bring-up and validation execution , and the data that drives module specifications. This role requires strong laboratory experience in integrated photonics and fiber optics, as well as expertise in photonics and electronics testing, and data analysis. Analytical skills, problem-solving, and the ability to clearly communicate and document your findings are essential.

## Responsibilities

- Lead optical performance optimization (OPO) and initial bring-up for Guide ™ Laser  modules; define and execute bring-up sequences from unpowered to full operating condition.
- Develop and own the bringup-to-eVT hand-off package: measurement summary, pass/fail criteria, and known-good reference data.
- Own characterization campaigns involving Guide and Passage based optical links, including end-to-end link validation, channel optimization, and margin verification through the lens of Laser/Guide systems. Identify and operate to resolve link-level anomalies; close the loop with module-level root-cause analysis.
- Develop structured manufacturing and characterization test plans aligned to photonics-control specs; define measurement protocols, calibration sequences, and acceptance criteria. Collaborate with control engineers to ensure test plan data supports algorithm validation and production deployment.
- Write and maintain Python or MATLAB measurement automation scripts for optical, electrical, and thermal test sequences; build data pipelines to surface yield signatures and process trends.
- Author clear characterization reports capturing methodology, results, and recommendations; communicate findings to cross-functional stakeholders.
- Partner with the team on laser-safety interlock validation and controller characterization flows.
- Interface with production on test plan deployment, NPI transitions, and manufacturing scale-up.
- Experience with high-speed and optical link characterization methodologies is a plus.

Required Qualifications

- BS + 8 years, MS + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Optical Engineering, Photonics, or a closely related field.
- Hands-on experience characterizing laser modules (DFB lasers, optical amplifiers, and other coherent sources) in a research or NPI environment with experience with DWDM optical link bring-up and validation as a plus.
- Proficiency with core photonics lab equipment: optical spectrum analyzers (OSA), optical power meters, lightwave component analyzers (LCA), high-bandwidth oscilloscopes, and signal generators.
- Experience building or executing structured test plans for optical or electro-optic assemblies — from test design through data delivery.
- Proficiency with Python or MATLAB scripting for measurement automation and statistical data analysis.
- Strong written communication skills; able to produce thorough, well-organized characterization reports.
- Familiarity with statistical process control (SPC), gauge R&R, or JMP for production yield analysis.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with laser module NPI, EVT, or manufacturing bring-up workflows; familiarity with hand-off packages to production.
- Background in TEC/thermal control loops, laser safety interlock systems, or photonics control-style calibration flows.
- Exposure to silicon photonics–III-V heterogeneous integration (bonded DFB sources, SOA, or hybrid photonic packages).
- Familiarity with optical link budgets and system-level characterization; experience operating multi-channel photonic integration platforms.

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. $187,000—$240,000 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.

## About Lightmatter

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Lightmatter builds photonic interconnects and computing infrastructure to eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks in AI and high-performance computing, enabling the next era of AI scaling.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D, $850M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: Mountain View, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Nicholas Harris, PhD (CEO), Darius Bunandar, PhD (Head of Machine Learning), and a third co-founder (Chief Scientist)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Silicon Photonics / AI Infrastructure / Semiconductor
- **Target customers**: Hyperscale data center operators, AI labs (training frontier models), cloud service providers, and enterprise AI teams
- **Mission or purpose**: To make computers keep getting better by using light instead of electricity for data movement, solving the fundamental bandwidth bottleneck that limits AI scaling.

## Products & Services
- **Passage™ Platform**: A family of 3D-stacked silicon photonics interconnects (NPO, OBO, 2D/3D CPO, 3D interposers) that provide "Edgeless I/O"—unlimited bandwidth scaling for AI supercomputers. Key variants include:
  - **Passage M1000 EVK**: Rack-level 3D photonic interposer delivering 114 Tbps across a 4,000 mm² footprint.
  - **Passage L200**: Designed for frontier-scale training, supporting 32–64 Tbps aggregate bandwidth via co-packaged optics (112G PAM4).
  - **Passage L20**: Accelerates optics integration with 12.8 Tbps aggregate bandwidth and 4x pluggable density.
  - **Passage EVK100**: High-bandwidth bidirectional link at 3.2 Tbps per fiber, 1.9 pJ/bit.
  - **Passage EVK50**: 16-wavelength bidirectional link at 800 Gbps per fiber, 2.6 pJ/bit.
- **Guide® Light Engines**: Very Large Scale Photonics technology—a universal light source (hundreds of lasers and photonics components on a single chip) designed to power co-packaged optics across the entire photonics industry.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: $4.4 billion (as of October 2024)
- **Key Metric**: $850M total funding raised
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Tower Semiconductor (manufacturing partners); Amkor, ASE (packaging partners); NVIDIA (joined NVLink Fusion ecosystem); standards bodies including Ultra Ethernet, UALink, JEDEC, OIF, IEEE, OCP, and the Advanced Photonics Coalition.
- **Growth Signals**: First-mover in category-defining photonic interconnects; multiple generations of production-ready technology (not vaporware); reference platforms in customer hands; 100,000+ GPU cluster capability; world-first 16-wavelength bidirectional optical DWDM link on standard single-mode fiber (8x leap in bandwidth density); partnerships with top foundries ensure high-volume manufacturing.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Edgeless I/O architecture**: Eliminates the physical chip-perimeter constraint that limits electrical interconnects, enabling bandwidth to scale without bound.
- **Fundamentally better physics**: Photons travel without resistive loss, cross paths without interference, and carry multiple signals on a single fiber—far more efficient than electrons.
- **Deep vertical integration**: From photonic chip design to light engines (Guide) to complete interconnect platforms (Passage), with proprietary 3D stacking technology.
- **Decade-scale roadmap**: Continued bandwidth scaling (114 Tbps today, 1+ Pbps tomorrow) with production-ready silicon validated at scale.
- **Ecosystem lock-in**: Standards body leadership and partnerships with NVIDIA, TSMC, and hyperscalers create high switching costs.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale AI infrastructure**: Enable 100,000+ GPU clusters for trillion-parameter models, solving the interconnect bottleneck that currently strands hundreds of millions in compute capacity.
- **Productize photonics**: Move from reference platforms to volume production across Passage and Guide families, targeting both training and inference workloads.
- **Expand ecosystem**: Deepen partnerships with hyperscalers, AI labs, and chipmakers (e.g., NVIDIA NVLink Fusion) to make photonic interconnects the default for next-gen data centers.
- **Hire across all functions**: Actively growing engineering, research, sales, and operations teams to scale the company.

## Why Work Here
- **Mission-driven impact**: Work at the intersection of photonics, AI, and semiconductor engineering to solve the most critical bottleneck in AI—data movement. Your work directly enables frontier models and trillion-parameter training.
- **World-class team**: Colleagues from MIT, Caltech, Stanford, and UC Berkeley; published in Nature, Science, ISSCC, ISCA; 100+ patents; team members contributed to black hole simulation software for the Academy Award-winning movie *Interstellar*.
- **Cutting-edge technology**: Not research, not vaporware—multiple generations of production-ready photonic chips in customer hands, with a decade-scale roadmap.
- **Locations**: Mountain View, CA (HQ); Boston, MA; Hsinchu, Taiwan; Toronto, Canada.
- **Benefits**: 401(k), generous vacation policy and holidays, commuter benefits, happy hours, and a strong learning culture (peer-to-peer knowledge sharing across electronics, photonics, machine learning, and more).
- **Culture**: "We are one Lightmatter"—collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and focused on solving hard problems at scale.

## Sources
1. [lightmatter.co/about](https://lightmatter.co/about/)
2. [lightmatter.co](https://lightmatter.co/)
3. [lightmatter.co/people/careers](https://lightmatter.co/people/careers/)
4. [lightmatter.co/people](https://lightmatter.co/people/)
5. [linkedin.com/company/lightmatter](https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightmatter)

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