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Salary: USD 250,000 - 300,000 / annual
Lightmatter is a venture-backed company revolutionizing AI data center infrastructure through photonics technology. The company recently raised $400M in Series D funding at a $4.4B valuation and is scaling rapidly across all departments.
This Principal Field Application Engineer role focuses on high-speed I/O and photonic interconnect technology. You will serve as the technical expert and primary point of contact for Tier 1 semiconductor companies designing next-generation data center silicon. Your responsibilities include:
- Provide comprehensive technical support across the full customer HSIO (high-speed I/O) design lifecycle: early assessment, design scheme discussion, hardware design review, debug support, and troubleshooting
- Develop and deliver technical proposals aligned with customer requirements and system architecture
- Act as the field expert on HSIO, training the FAE team, creating technical articles, and developing reference designs
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Lightmatter Engineering to support customer design wins and communicate progress
You will work with customers who are domain experts in SerDes and high-speed serial protocols, supporting deep technical discussions on high-speed serial I/O design. The role requires excellent interpersonal skills, independent work capability, and the ability to translate complex technical concepts for both engineering and executive audiences.
Required qualifications include a BS/MS in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or Computer Science, plus 10+ years in high-tech electronics with deep expertise in high-speed serial I/O design (transceiver architecture, CDR, DFE). You must have strong signal integrity and power integrity knowledge, familiarity with EDA tools like Keysight ADS, proven customer-facing experience, and excellent presentation skills. Experience with silicon photonics, optical transceivers, semiconductor technology, and laser technology is essential.
Preferred experience includes digital signal processing (MATLAB Simulink), analog/mixed-signal design (ADC/DAC), C/C++ programming, and prior customer-facing roles as a domain expert in silicon photonics or optics deployment in data center environments at scale.
