Photonics Technical Lead

Lightmatter•Toronto, ON

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Lightmatter is a company at the forefront of AI data center infrastructure, developing the world's first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, designed for extreme-scale data centers supporting advanced AI and HPC workloads. Having secured $400 million in Series D funding, Lightmatter is poised for significant growth and innovation in data center photonics. The company is seeking passionate and impact-driven individuals to join its team of scientists, engineers, and industry leaders who are dedicated to reinventing computing with light. The Photonics Technical Lead will join the laser development team, focusing on creating integrated and scalable laser solutions for silicon photonics AI communications and computation. This role involves close collaboration with internal engineering teams and external manufacturing partners to assess product feasibility, develop engineering plans, execute new product designs, and validate system performance. The position demands a deep understanding of complex multi-domain platforms, integrated silicon photonics, and datacom system requirements. The ideal candidate will adeptly balance performance, schedule, reliability, power consumption, and cost, working with stakeholders to find optimal engineering solutions. Creativity, analytical skills, and clear communication are essential. This is an opportunity to join a collaborative team where individual contributions significantly impact company and product success, allowing for the development of innovative laser solutions from inception and the tackling of groundbreaking challenges in a dynamic technical environment that prioritizes great ideas.

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 of closely collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams, like photonics design, packaging, thermal, system engineering and firmware to name a few.
Ability to convey complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders with strong and clear communication
Demonstrated strong problem solving skills specifically pertaining to problems that do not have obvious solutions

Nice To Haves

Strong understanding of laser physics
Experience in lasers or silicon photonics for datacom applications
Experience with control systems and system engineering
Experience working in a high volume manufacturing environment
Demonstrated technical leadership of a cross-functional team
Willing and able to learn quickly, self-starter with a “no task is too big or small” attitude

Responsibilities

Engage with a cross-functional team to design and deliver a successful high-volume laser product
Collaborate with product and architecture teams to drive new laser concepts
Work closely with hardware and software teams to translate high level laser module product requirements and architecture specifications into a detailed engineering execution plan
Engage in problem-solving to resolve design and manufacturing challenges for innovative high-performance laser solutions
Actively collaborate across disciplines—with electronics, photonics, mechanical, thermal and package-design engineering teams—to build laser systems, control algorithms, PICs, and control ASICs that meet performance, power, and production requirements
Collaborate with control-system and test engineers to define production test and validation protocols, as well as to characterize components and debug test results from prototype level to validation
Work with external vendors to ensure timely development and delivery of key processes and components