Photonics Architect - Boston, MA
$150,000 - $220,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 16 July 2026 by the employer.
Define the micro-architecture for high-bandwidth, low-latency photonic interconnect fabrics integrated into Passage™.
About the role
Lightmatter is hiring a Photonics Architect to define the architecture for a photonic-based communication fabric and deliver high-bandwidth, low-latency photonic interconnect and switch fabric. You will work closely with photonic and analog teams to optimize power, performance, and area across component-level designs and top-level layout for the Passage platform.
What you'll do
- Propose photonic designs, including modulators, receivers, multiplexers, lasers, and amplifiers. - Work closely with the photonic engineering design team to provide performance, power, and area estimates of the photonic devices within Passage. - Collaborate with the analog engineering team to provide a high-bandwidth photonic interconnect solution. - Author, review, and validate architectural specifications. - Provide detailed technical documents describing requirements and architecture to the engineering team.
What you'll need
- PhD in electrical engineering, physics, applied physics, or a discipline related to photonics. - In-depth knowledge of photonic devices and semiconductor physics. - Experience with integrated silicon photonics components. - Capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.
Skills: photonic designs, modulators, receivers, multiplexers, integrated silicon photonics, photonic simulation tools
This role has been open 95 days — well above the 76-day median for Optical/Photonics IC Design roles.
Optical/Photonics IC Design · Photonics
|
Open roles in category
132
|
Median days open
76 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Lightmatter | All employers we track in this specialty (132 roles · 29 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 15 | 132 |
| Median days open | 95 d | 76 d (+19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: photonic designs, modulators, receivers, multiplexers, integrated silicon photonics, photonic simulation tools
Who's hiring in this category
- Coherent Corp · 17 open roles · median 90 d
- GlobalFoundries · 16 open roles · median 76 d
- Lightmatter (this employer) · 13 open roles · median 95 d
- Lumentum · 10 open roles · median 77 d
- Marvell Technology · 8 open roles · median 42 d
- Intel Corporation · 7 open roles · median 60 d
How we counted: 132 open Optical/Photonics IC Design (Photonics) roles from 29 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 20 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there. Figures refresh nightly.