Six Figure Work

Staff Electrical Design Engineer

Lightmatter

Company websitelightmatter.com (Lightmatter, opens in new tab)

Base salary $186K  to $250K

Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in Mountain View, CA

Apply (opens in new tab)

You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.

  • LocationMountain View, CA
  • WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
  • Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
  • Last checked (1 h ago) · observed since

About this job

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.

Lightmatter raised $400 million in its Series D round, reaching a valuation of $4.4 billion. We will continue to accelerate the development of data center photonics and grow every department at Lightmatter!

If you're passionate about tackling complex challenges, making an impact, and being an expert in your craft, join our team of brilliant scientists, engineers, and accomplished industry leaders.

Lightmatter is (re)inventing the future of computing with light!

Staff Electrical Design Engineer

We are looking for a Staff Electrical Design Engineer to contribute to the development of the next generation of silicon photonics based artificial intelligence accelerators and interconnect products.

In this role, you will lead board and system solutions that leverage Lightmatter’s technology to enable advanced machine learning, artificial intelligence, and large-scale interconnect platforms. 

You will lead and own Hardware systems efforts, collaborate closely with teams across hardware and software, including mechanical, packaging, and IC engineering, to design, integrate, troubleshoot and release system-level products at the leading edge of innovation.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with the system architect and technical leads to define system-level hardware requirements and spec.
  • Electrical design of power, memory, and interconnect circuits, working in both the analog and digital domains.
  • Identify electrical and optical components to fit the application based on specifications provided by the IC and photonics engineering teams.
  • Starting from fundamental concepts and system considerations you will develop conceptual designs, physical modeling, and simulations of chip-modules and systems.
  • Oversee and review PCB layout designs, providing complete and detailed electrical constraint rules.
  • Ensure the board and system is manufacturable to the latest technologies with high yield and robustness.
  • Qualification of chip and system electrical properties.
  • Perform laboratory validation of boards and systems.
  • Lead integration with mechanical, software, IC, and other related teams.
  • Support contract manufacturing during prototype and production phase to resolve any issues.
  • Work with component vendors and other supply partners.
  • Research new components, processes, and technologies to meet product goals.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering.
  • 8+ years of related experience in system-level electrical design, having successfully taken several products from concept to production.
  • Proficient in schematic design using Cadence, Mentor, or Altium tool set (Altium preferred).
  • In depth knowledge on VRMs, high speed SERDES, CPUs and various interfaces/protocols such as PCIe, Ethernet, QSPI, I3C, I2C, etc.
  • 5+ years of experience in lab experimentation, non-intrusive circuit debugging, and leading cross-functional integration teams.
  • Experience in working with thermal solutions for integrated circuits and their board level systems.
  • Familiar with Product Lifecycle Management tools, e.g. Oracle Agile, Arena, or Omnify PLM with an understanding of BOM and ECO management.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience designing electrical systems for networking or similar industries.
  • Knowledge of integrated circuit layout, and designing a carrier PCBA for it. 
  • Knowledge of common manufacturing and design processes.
  • Familiarity with Systems Engineering principles.
  • Familiar with 3D Mechanical CAD tools, e.g. Solidworks or AutoCAD.

This role is open to two levels Staff and Sr Staff. Leveling placement and salary range is dependent on education, years of experience, and interview performance.

We offer competitive compensation. The base salary range for this role determined based on location, experience, educational background, and market data.

Salary Range: total compensation goes beyond base salary, it also includes a new hire equity grant, annual performance-based equity, and other rewards that recognize your impact and contribution.

$186,000—$250,000 USD

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
  • Retirement Savings Matching Program
  • Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
  • Generous Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
  • Paid Family Leave
  • Short Term & Long Term Disability
  • Training & Development
  • Commuter Benefits
  • Flexible, hybrid workplace model
  • Equity grants (applicable to full-time employees)

Benefits eligibility may vary depending on your employment status and location. 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.

Export Control

Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws. 

Source: Lightmatter on Greenhouse · View original posting (opens in new tab)

Pay in context

This role's base floor ($186,000) is above 60% of the 4,316 Software Engineering roles in California listed on this site; 10 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $176,100; the middle half runs from $149,100 to $203,125.

Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 6, 2026.

This range next to 6 other live Lightmatter roles with the nearest advertised base floor
Chart as a table
This range next to 6 other live Lightmatter roles with the nearest advertised base floor
RolePublished base
Staff Electrical Design Engineer (this listing)$186K - $250K
Hardware Systems Technical Lead$186K - $256K
Mixed-Signal Validation Engineer$186K - $246K
Staff /Sr Staff Laser Module & Systems Characterization Engineer$187K - $240K
Staff High-Speed I/O Test Engineer$187K - $220K
Staff/Sr Staff Electro-Optic Link Codesign Engineer$180K - $260K
Sr SDET– Firmware Automation$178K - $225K

Same $100K to $400K scale as every card. All Lightmatter roles · How to read the bar

Observed changes

  1. First observed on the employer's board
  2. Began meeting the published-salary criteria
Observed since
Employer-stated posting date
2026-10-16
Where this pay comes from

Location as the employer wrote it: Salary Range: total compensation goes beyond base salary, it also includes a new hire equity grant, annual performance-based equity, and other rewards that recognize your impact and contribution.

USD 186,000 – 250,000 · interval unstated · pay_input_range · Salary Range: total compensation goes beyond base salary, it also includes a new hire equity grant, annual performance-based equity, and other rewards that recognize your impact and contribution.

Method
Structured pay field published by the employer
Checked
Rule set
us-base-v2

The employer's job board publishes this pay as a dedicated data field. We read the field directly; no interpretation was needed.

What we verified

  • The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
  • The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
  • The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.

We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.