Firmware Engineer Jobs in Santa Clara, CA

INTRODUCTION

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!

ABOUT THIS ROLE

We are building System Level Test (SLT) for our next-generation high-speed optical interconnect products. This role involves bringing up and operating firmware on our test boards and the test platforms that run on top of it. SLT depends on loading the right firmware, bringing the device to a known state, and exercising it through its diagnostic interfaces. You will own that firmware layer for test, build the executive and datalog that make test flows repeatable and operator-runnable, and carry them from engineering bring-up through board-level test and transfer to manufacturing partners. This is a senior individual-contributor role on a small, growing team where you will have broad ownership and a direct hand in how our test platform is built.

Responsibilities

• Own firmware bring-up and integration on SLT boards: boot and image management across board and product variants, device initialization to a known state, diagnostic APIs, register-level read and write, mode and state control.
• Validate that each firmware release still provides the hooks test requires, and drive gaps to closure with the firmware team before they reach a test program.
• Own board-level functional test integration for assembled photonic boards: firmware load across multiple devices, calibration and device-programming content from design teams, pass/fail limits, retest policy, and dry-run controls around irreversible operations.
• Architect and build the SLT test executive: configuration-driven test sequences, instrument and device abstraction, guaranteed safe-state on abort, and a datalog with unit identity, test conditions, and results that supports comparison across time and test insertions.
• Build and operate continuous regression on bench hardware: scheduled runs, firmware and test-content change detection, and version control of test sequences and limits so a production flow is reproducible.
• Lead root cause of intermittent and order-dependent test failures, separating test-software, firmware, and hardware causes, and drive fixes with the owning teams.
• Produce operator procedures, test-plan and release documentation, and transfer packages that a technician or a manufacturing partner can execute without the author present.
• Set the software discipline for the team and mentor early-career engineers in test automation practice, code review, and documentation.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant experience
• Hands-on platform bring-up experience on embedded Linux hardware: boot sequence, boot-source and strap configuration, flash and memory initialization, bootloader and kernel, debugging with console, JTAG, and logs
• Experience validating firmware-level features across releases: image management across platform variants, upgrade and recovery, secure boot, warm restart and state preservation
• Built a test automation framework from the ground up for a hardware product and drove it to adoption as the daily regression for a team or organization
• Hardware-in-the-loop test experience with real devices under test, fixtures, and instruments, including fault injection and negative testing
• Strong Python scripting for test automation; comfortable in Linux command line, Git, and CI-integrated test execution
• Demonstrated ability to work from schematics and firmware interface specifications to derive test coverage for UART, I2C, SPI, and flash interfaces.
• Experience shipping hardware products through NPI gates (EVT, DVT, PVT) with ownership of test readiness.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field with 6+ years of industry experience
• Experience with serial-link or network-port validation: link state, lane configuration, link flaps across restarts, port counters.
• Experience with telemetry and log pipelines for device diagnostics.
• Experience with factory or contract-manufacturer test handoff and sustaining.
• Exposure to optical, RF, or high-speed electrical measurement and instrument control.
• Experience with eFUSE or OTP programming controls, or other irreversible test steps.

The below salary range is a range that includes Staff and Sr Staff level.

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.