Sr. Staff Thermo-Mechanical Engineer - Mountain View, CA, United States
$169,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 9 August 2026 by the employer.
Lightmatter invented the world’s first 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™.
About the role
You will focus on thermo-mechanical analysis and characterization of advanced photonics packaging technologies, including 3D stack development, heterogeneous integration of lasers, and novel fiber attach methods.
What you'll do
- Serve as the technical authority for thermo-mechanical simulation within the packaging organization.
- Identify capability gaps in simulation tooling, characterization methods, or material databases and champion fundamental investigations.
- Develop finite element stress, warpage, and assembly process models for wafer-level and unit-level photonic packaging.
- Perform analysis to identify key reliability risks under product use conditions and drive design and material solutions.
- Conduct multi-physics simulations including solder collapse modeling for bump architecture definition and thermal-structural analysis for packaging stress.
- Drive characterization and validation of mechanical designs and electronic assemblies through lab-scale prototyping and vendor-initiated experiments.
- Develop Python and MATLAB automation frameworks to scale simulation throughput and establish repeatable modeling workflows.
What you'll need
- MS or PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Material Science, or a related engineering field.
- Deep expertise in finite element analysis using commercial tools such as Ansys, Abaqus, or equivalent.
- Hands-on experience with multi-physics simulation including thermal-structural coupling, solder joint fatigue modeling, and warpage analysis.
- Strong understanding of semiconductor packaging failure modes including solder fatigue, delamination, CTE mismatch-driven stress, and underfill cracking under thermal cycling conditions.
- Experience with wafer-level and unit-level assembly processes including flip-chip, BGA, and advanced 3D packaging architectures.
- Proficiency in Python and/or MATLAB for simulation automation, data analysis, and scripting.
- Demonstrated ability to develop analytical or semi-empirical models for first-order engineering assessments.
- Experience driving characterization and validation programs through internal prototyping and external vendor collaboration.
Nice to have
- Experience with photonic packaging technologies including silicon photonics, co-packaged optics, fiber attach, or heterogeneous integration of laser devices.
- Familiarity with optical packaging reliability requirements and the intersection of thermo-mechanical performance with optical alignment stability.
- Experience with statistical analysis tools and techniques such as DOE and JMP.
This role has been open 69 days — well above the 50-day median for Hardware Systems Engineering roles.
Hardware Systems Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
966
|
Median days open
50 d
|
Median salary
$156k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Lightmatter | All employers we track in this specialty (966 roles · 102 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 5 | 966 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 16 | 6114 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 69 d | 50 d (+19 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $156k |
Who's hiring in this category
- Intel Corporation · 74 open roles · median 35 d
- KLA Corporation · 65 open roles · median 43 d
- Teradyne · 57 open roles · median 29 d
- NVIDIA · 52 open roles · median 67 d
- Applied Materials · 50 open roles · median 65 d
- AMD · 47 open roles · median 49 d
How we counted: 966 open Hardware Systems Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 102 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 17 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 — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.