Jobs / United States / Lightmatter INC
Staff / Sr. Staff HW Test Automation Engineer
Lightmatter INC · 🇺🇸 Boston, MA
Sponsorship verdict
Sponsorship possible
One solid signal, not two — worth applying, and worth asking about sponsorship early.
- Employer is on a government sponsor recordThe US Department of Labor certified 21 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest May 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 1 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
- The posting doesn’t mention sponsorshipSilence isn’t a refusal — ask the recruiter before investing much time.
- No salary bar for this routeH-1B has no fixed salary bar: the employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the role and area. Cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level. Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b, rules effective 2026-02-27.
- What Lightmatter INC paid sponsored hires in similar roles1 certified filing for “Firmware Test & Deployment Automation Engineer” (Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers) in MA: $141k–$141k, median $141k. Most were filed at wage level III (100%) — 3 lottery entries, ≈46% projected selection odds for cap-subject employers. Source: US Department of Labor LCA disclosure data (Oct 2025 – Jun 2026).
- Confirmed live todayWhen a source last listed this job as open.
US H-1B: cap-subject employers enter a lottery weighted by wage level — Level I gets 1 entry, Level IV gets 4 (DHS projected selection odds ≈15% at Level I to ≈61% at Level IV). Universities and non-profit research employers are cap-exempt. The $100,000 fee for new petitions from abroad is currently blocked by a court order (appeal pending).
A verdict summarises public evidence; it is not legal advice and never a guarantee — the employer and the immigration authority decide. Sign in to factor in where you can already work.
Or apply yourself on the official page →
Sponsor Radar — Lightmatter INC
The US Department of Labor certified 21 H-1B/E-3 labor condition applications for this employer between Oct 2025 and Jun 2026 (latest May 2026) — the step every H-1B hire needs first. USCIS also records 1 H-1B approvals in FY2023. Source: LCA disclosure data (US Department of Labor (OFLC)).
Past sponsorship or register membership never guarantees sponsorship for this vacancy or for you. Full Sponsor Radar for Lightmatter INC →
About the role
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! Product Engineering builds the software that brings up, characterizes, and qualifies Lightmatter's photonic chips on real hardware — from bench-top bring-up through production test on automated test equipment (ATE). You'll write the code that drives instruments, testers, wafer probers, and lab automation to bring a chip to life and prove it works. Test software infrastructure at Lightmatter spans multiple platforms, wafer test, hardware validation, and laser/optical test, and this role often acts as the bridge between engineers working at the bench and the broader test software team. As a Hardware Test Automation Engineer you'll have the opportunity to work across some combination of: an internal test software framework (Java/Python-based), industry-standard ATE test method and testflow development, wafer prober integration, instrument control (optical and electrical sources, meters, sensors), embedded/firmware interfaces on the hardware side, and data pipelines from lab equipment to structured results. Responsibilities • Learn the hardware you're automating well enough to make informed software decisions about it. • Design and build test software that automates device bring-up, characterization, and production test sequences across bench and ATE environments. • Develop and maintain test methods, test flows, and instrument control code depending on level and project while writing code and reviewing code are both daily parts of the role. • Work directly with hardware and characterization engineers to understand their needs and translate device physics and test requirements into working, repeatable test software. • Build and maintain data logging and results pipelines so test data is captured accurately and usable downstream (metric computation, yield analysis, production handoff). • Debug test hardware/software integration issues, working across the device under test, the fixture, the instrument, and the test code to find root cause. • Support test program releases to internal test cells and, at senior levels, to external test facilities. • Communicate daily with the team on progress and blockers, and spend regular time in the lab working hands-on with hardware. Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or related field. • 8+ years of experience in hardware test software, ATE systems, or test architecture, ideally in semiconductor or photonics. • Track record of owning test software architecture for a product line, including decisions on how the framework scales across projects and teams. • Deep hands-on experience with ATE test method/test flow development and/or embedded test frameworks for hardware test automation, plus fluency with instrumentation automation (SCPI/VISA or equivalent) at a level where you can teach it to others. • History of mentoring engineers and driving cross-functional technical decisions with hardware, characterization, and manufacturing teams. •