Analog/Mixed Signal Architect

Lightmatter builds chips that enable extreme-scale AI computing clusters. If you're a collaborative engineer or scientist who has a passion for innovation, solving challenging technical problems and doing impactful work like building the world's first optically accelerated computers, consider joining the team at Lightmatter!

We are hiring an Analog and Mixed-Signal (AMS) Architect. The selected candidate will partner with internal engineering teams at Lightmatter to deliver groundbreaking products to the market. In this role, you will contribute to the design and development of innovative analog architecture solutions to deliver high-volume products for our customers. As an architect, you will provide detailed technical documents that describe what needs to be built to the engineering team. You will engage with our cross-disciplinary engineering teams to model and analyze solutions. The role also requires creativity, analytical skills, and clear communication skills. You will represent the company at technical conferences as an example of our technical leadership.

You will report directly to the Sr. Director of Architecture, but you will also work closely with our digital, analog, photonic, and software teams. Join a tight-knit team where each individual’s contributions directly influence the success of the company and product. You'll have the opportunity to build a new kind of computer from the ground up and to solve groundbreaking challenges along the way. Work with people who love to build and who thrive in technically diverse environments where great ideas are prioritized.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Propose innovative solutions high-speed (50G and beyond) AMS circuit blocks custom to optical transceivers, such as drivers, TIAs, equalizers, ADC/DACs, PLLs, CDRs.
• Work closely with the analog engineering design team to performance, power, and area estimates of the analog devices within Passage.
• Actively collaborate with the photonics engineering team to provide a high-bandwidth photonic interconnect solution.
• Author, review, and validate architectural specifications.

Qualifications: 

• PhD in electrical engineering, physics, applied physics, or a discipline related to analog design.
• Experience in designing and testing optical front-end receivers and transmitters (TIAs, drivers), CTLE, DFE, ADC, DAC, oscillators, etc. in advanced CMOS.
• Power user of simulation tools Cadence Virtuoso, Cadence Spectre, Verilog-A, IBIS-AMI simulators.
• Ability and desire to collaborate in a cross-disciplinary team.
• Excellent written and communication skills.
• Demonstrated strong problem solving skills specifically pertaining to problems that do not have obvious solutions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Understanding of signal processing (i.e., equalization, digital signal processing, and coding) and signal integrity in optical communication.
• Experience in silicon photonic devices (Mach-Zehnder and microring modulators, thermally tuned components)
• A culture champion for Lightmatter, aligns with the company’s light-hearted culture.
• Willing and able to learn quickly. Self-starter with a “no task is too big or small” attitude.
• Innovative and flexible; realizes that a one-size-fits-all approach will not always solve the problem at hand.
• Data-driven and analytical; translates numbers into actionable strategies.
• Process-oriented and programmatic: builds structure through processes that can be relied upon across the organization.