Full-Time

Senior Staff Photonics Systems Engineer

Lightmatter

Lightmatter

201-500 employees

Photonic computing hardware for AI acceleration

Compensation Overview

CA$185k - CA$217k/yr

+ New hire equity grant + Annual performance-based equity + Retirement savings matching

Toronto, ON, Canada

Hybrid

Flexible hybrid workplace model.

PhD

Category
Hardware Engineering (1)
Required Skills
High Performance Computing (HPC)

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Requirements
  • A Ph.D. in Photonics, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics, or a related discipline, with at least 3 years of relevant post-degree experience or equivalent.
  • A minimum of 8 years of experience in photonic devices, photonic integrated circuits, and semiconductor physics.
  • Strong understanding of silicon photonics.
  • Experience closely collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams, including photonics design, packaging, thermal, systems engineering, and firmware.
  • Ability to convey complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders with strong and clear communication.
  • Demonstrated strong problem-solving skills pertaining to problems without obvious solutions.
Responsibilities
  • Engage with a cross-functional team to design and deliver a successful high-volume laser and optical product.
  • Collaborate with product and architecture teams to drive new laser and photonics concepts.
  • Work closely with hardware and software teams to translate high-level module product requirements and architecture specifications into a detailed engineering execution plan.
  • Resolve design and manufacturing challenges for innovative high-performance laser solutions.
  • Collaborate across electronics, photonics, mechanical, thermal, and package-design engineering teams to build photonic systems, control algorithms, photonic integrated circuits, and control application-specific integrated circuits that meet performance, power, and production requirements.
  • Collaborate with control-system and test engineers to define production test and validation protocols, characterize components, and debug test results from prototype through validation.
  • Work with external vendors to ensure timely development and delivery of key processes and components.
Desired Qualifications
  • Strong understanding of laser physics.
  • Experience with lasers or silicon photonics for datacom applications.
  • Experience with control systems and systems engineering.
  • Experience working in a high-volume manufacturing environment.
  • Demonstrated technical leadership of a cross-functional team.
  • Willingness and ability to learn quickly, self-starter, and willingness to handle tasks of varying size.

Lightmatter develops photonic computing hardware to speed up AI workloads using light-based processing. Their photonic systems run AI tasks faster and use about 90% less energy than traditional processors. They target AI and autonomous vehicle workloads and collaborate with universities to advance electro-photonic systems. Revenue comes from hardware sales, software licenses, and partnerships, with a goal of bringing scalable photonic computing to market for faster, energy-efficient AI and AV applications.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

Series D

Total Funding

$822M

Headquarters

Boston, Massachusetts

Founded

2017

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • NVIDIA NVLink Fusion integration, announced June 2, 2026, validates Lightmatter’s interconnect roadmap.
  • Guide DR, launched April 27, 2026, targets Q4 2026 sampling and higher rack density.
  • Roy Kim joined March 16, 2026, signaling aggressive scaling from validation to deployment.

What critics are saying

  • Passage L20 samples in late 2026, delaying meaningful revenue and customer proof.
  • CPO manufacturing remains brutal; vClick and Guide DR still depend on partner yields.
  • NVIDIA or hyperscalers can internalize photonic interconnects, collapsing Lightmatter’s standalone moat by 2028.

What makes Lightmatter unique

  • Lightmatter’s Passage and Guide platforms attack AI interconnect bottlenecks with photonics, not electricity.
  • It partners with NVIDIA, Synopsys, GUC, ASE, and OCP, shaping emerging optical standards.
  • Its manufacturing network spans TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Tower Semiconductor, Amkor, and ASE.

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Benefits

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account

Unlimited Paid Time Off

Flexible Work Hours

Remote Work Options

Paid Vacation

Paid Sick Leave

Paid Holidays

Sabbatical Leave

Hybrid Work Options

Stock Options

Company Equity

401(k) Retirement Plan

Wellness Program

Mental Health Support

Gym Membership

Phone/Internet Stipend

Home Office Stipend

Commuter Benefits

Training & Development

Conference Attendance Budget

Professional Development Budget

Family Planning Benefits

Fertility Treatment Support

Adoption Assistance

Childcare Support

Elder Care Support

Relocation Assistance

Employee Referral Bonus

Tuition Reimbursement

Professional Certification Support

Mentorship Program

Meal Benefits

Employee Discounts

Company Social Events

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-3%

1 year growth

-5%

2 year growth

-5%
Yahoo Finance
Jun 3rd, 2026
Lightmatter joins NVIDIA NVLink Fusion ecosystem with photonic interconnects for AI infrastructure

Lightmatter, a photonic computing specialist, has joined NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion ecosystem to deliver high-performance optical connectivity for AI infrastructure. The company will provide Co-Packaged Optics and Near-Packaged Optics products compatible with NVIDIA's optical and SerDes technologies. Lightmatter's bi-directional optical link architecture will create a unified platform for semi-custom AI factories whilst reducing fibre and connector requirements by 50%. The technology enables semi-custom XPUs to connect with NVIDIA switch silicon through Lightmatter's products, creating seamless high-bandwidth connectivity for chips from various suppliers. The partnership combines Lightmatter's Passage CPO solutions with NVIDIA's NVLink Fusion architecture. Analysts view this collaboration as a critical milestone in the maturation of co-packaged optics, providing hyperscalers with a blueprint to overcome traditional I/O bottlenecks and scale AI clusters.

Business Wire
May 21st, 2026
Lightmatter unveils Guide DR: liquid-cooled laser NIC quadruples rack density for AI datacentres

Lightmatter has unveiled Guide DR, a high-density laser network interface card that quadruples rack density compared to conventional external laser small form factor pluggables. The liquid-cooled LNIC relocates the light source from the faceplate into the chassis, solving scaling bottlenecks whilst leveraging existing cooling infrastructure. Built to OCP NIC 3.0 dimensions, a single Guide DR module can support up to 51.2 Tbps of aggregate bandwidth. Four modules in a 1 RU switch tray enable 204.8 Tbps of switching bandwidth, eliminating the need for larger 4 RU chassis with liquid-cooled lasers. The module supplies 200 mW of optical power per fibre across up to 64 fibres, driving 256 lanes at 200G each, with zero front-panel footprint. Guide DR will begin sampling in Q4 2026.

Associated Press
Apr 27th, 2026
Lightmatter hires ex-Google AI director Roy Kim to scale photonic interconnects globally

Lightmatter, a photonic computing company, has appointed Roy Kim as Vice President of Product to lead deployment of its photonic interconnect platform. Kim brings over 15 years of AI infrastructure experience from Google, AMD and NVIDIA. At Google since 2021, Kim served as Director of AI Infrastructure Product Management. He previously led Data Center GPU Product Management at AMD and spent eight years at NVIDIA in AI and high-performance computing roles. At Lightmatter, Kim will oversee product roadmap, management, marketing and strategy. The appointment follows significant product launches, including the Guide light engine in January and the Passage L20 optical engine in March. Lightmatter's technology aims to eliminate data bottlenecks in AI data centres through photonic interconnects.

Business Wire
Mar 11th, 2026
Lightmatter achieves record 1.6 Tbps per fiber with photonic interconnect chiplet

Lightmatter has achieved a record-breaking 1.6 Tbps throughput per fibre with its Passage Co-Packaged Optics chiplet, marking a significant milestone in AI interconnect performance. The technology, developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, uses a 16-wavelength DWDM architecture and delivers up to eight times more bandwidth per fibre than existing solutions. The silicon-proven platform combines Lightmatter's photonic engine with Qualcomm Technologies' 112G PAM4 optical SerDes chiplet, addressing interconnect bottlenecks limiting AI model scaling. The architecture reduces power consumption whilst enabling connectivity for next-generation processors and switches, with Passage L-Series photonic engines on track to deliver 100 Tbps and beyond. The record-breaking Passage L-Series photonic interconnects are now available through evaluation kits for lead customer testing.

Associated Press
Mar 11th, 2026
Lightmatter launches vClick Optics, first detachable fiber array for high-volume CPO production with <1.5 dB loss

Lightmatter has unveiled vClick Optics, the industry's first detachable fibre array unit for co-packaged optics advanced packaging. The technology enables high-volume manufacturing of 3D CPO-enabled chips by allowing manufacturers to verify optical engines before final integration, reducing yield loss risks. vClick Optics achieves insertion loss below 1.5 dB and supports high-bandwidth Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing for 32-100Tbps optical interconnects. The technology integrates SENKO's connector solutions with Lightmatter's photonic technology and is compatible with advanced packaging flows from major foundries. Developed in partnership with ASE and SENKO Advanced Components, vClick transforms permanent fibre attachment into a plug-and-play solution. Lightmatter will showcase the technology at the Optical Fiber Communication conference in Los Angeles from 15-19 March 2026.