Lightmatter
Staff Photonics Design & PDK Modeling Engineer
$185K–$220K
Boston, MA +5 · Staff · Full-time · Posted Oct 8, 2026
- Location
- Boston, MA
Mountain View, CA
Toronto, ON
Boston, MA
Mountain View, CA
Toronto, ON - Experience
- Master’s +5 years experience or PhD +3 years experience.
- Education
- Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, or related field.
- Visa sponsorship
- Candidates should have capacity to comply with federally mandated U.S. export control requirements.
About the job
Develops Lightmatter’s photonics Process Design Kit (PDK), including component libraries and compact models that connect device design, physical layouts, and system-level verification.
What you'll do
- Develop and maintain Python-based PCells and synchronize physical layouts, logical netlists, and behavioral models.
- Create, verify, and validate physics-based active and passive device models using silicon measurements, data fitting, and statistical analysis.
- Build automated regression testing and CI pipelines, and collaborate with engineering teams on tape-outs.
What they ask for
- Master’s degree plus 5 years of experience, or PhD plus 3 years, in Electrical Engineering, Photonics, Physics, or a related field.
- Deep understanding of photonic device physics and experience in device simulation.
- Experience building behavioral models for circuit simulators.
- Python experience for modeling, automation, and data analysis, including object-oriented programming and scientific libraries; Python-based layout experience.
Nice to have
- Proficiency with Python-based layout tools such as gdstk, GDSFactory, and KLayout.
- Experience with Python-native circuit simulation ecosystems, photonics equivalent-circuit modeling, foundry PDKs, or large-scale photonic circuit tape-outs and testing.
Pay
$185,000 — $220,000 USD (total compensation; base salary range not specified)
Tools
Python, NumPy, SciPy, Lumerical INTERCONNECT, Cadence, Synopsys OptSim, gdstk, GDSFactory
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative