Principal Field Application Engineer

Lightmatter is leading the revolution in AI data center infrastructure, enabling the next giant leaps in human progress. The company invented the world’s first 3D‑stacked photonics engine, Passage™, capable of connecting thousands to millions of processors at the speed of light in extreme‑scale data centers for the most advanced AI and HPC workloads.

We are looking for an outstanding Field Application Engineer – High‑speed I/O Specialist to join our team. The role’s primary responsibility is to work collaboratively with customers in architecting the next generation of devices enabled by Lightmatter’s photonic interconnect technology Passage. You will work closely with Tier 1 semiconductor companies that are defining the next generation of silicon in the data center and with domain experts in high‑speed serial links (Ser Des) and protocols.

Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently are essential for success in this role.

• Provide full technical support of the customer HSIO design, including early technical assessment, design scheme discussion, hardware design review, hardware debug support, and other critical troubleshooting.
• Develop and deliver technical proposals to customers based on technical requirements and system architecture.
• Serve as the field expert on HSIO, providing in‑depth training and guidance to the FAE team and creating and sharing related technical articles and reference designs.
• Collaborate with Lightmatter Engineering to support customer design wins and communicate progress updates to customer engineering leads.

• BS or MS in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of work experience in high‑tech electronics with high‑speed serial I/O design, including transceiver architecture, CDR, DFE, or related areas.
• In‑depth knowledge of signal integrity, power integrity simulation, and related hardware design; familiarity with SI/PI EDA simulation tools and models such as Keysight ADS.
• Customer‑facing skill set and background, able to communicate effectively with customers.
• Action‑oriented with strong analytical and problem‑solving skills.
• Previous experience developing and delivering technical presentations to executive management, cross‑functional engineering teams, and external clients.
• Built trusted working relationships across teams, improving coordination and execution speed.
• Experience working with silicon photonics and/or optical transceivers.
• In‑depth knowledge of semiconductor and laser technology.

• Familiar with digital signal processing theory and related tools such as MATLAB Simulink.
• Analog signal and mixed‑signal design, ADC, DAC design experience.
• Experience with C, C++ and other software development.
• Experience acting as a domain expert for silicon photonics/optics in a customer‑facing role.
• Experience deploying or supporting customers deploying optics in a data center environment at scale.

Competitive base salary plus variable incentives. On‑target earnings range: $250,000 USD – $300,000 USD.

• Comprehensive health care plan (medical, dental, vision)
• Retirement savings matching program
• Life insurance (basic, voluntary, AD&D)
• Generous time off (vacation, sick leave, public holidays)
• Paid family leave
• Short‑term and long‑term disability coverage
• Training and development opportunities
• Commuter benefits
• Flexible, hybrid workplace model
• Equity grants (applicable to full‑time employees)

Candidates must have the capacity to comply with federally mandated U.S. export control laws.

Lightmatter recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.