RTL Design Lead/IC Front-End Architect/Datapath Lead

The role

You will define the digital front-end micro-architecture and own the high-speed datapath. You will also lead, grow, and mentor the front-end design team.

What you will do

• Front-end micro-architecture and block partitioning
• Front-end design methodology and quality
• The high-speed datapath
• Transport/link framing/mapping and the adaptation logic
• Timing- and floorplan-aware micro-architecture
• Clocking, reset, and low-power architecture
• Establish designer-level verification
• Architectural DFT and debug provisioning
• IP integration and interface/register conventions
• Lead, grow, and mentor the front-end design team

Required qualifications

• 10+ years digital design / micro-architecture, with lead ownership of a high-throughput datapath or SerDes-adjacent SoC
• Experience designing the datapath of a network switch/NIC card or memory controller at a major XPU / fabric vendor (or a comparable high-throughput, high-reliability datapath)
• Solid understanding of scale-up vs. scale-out interconnect architectures and their bandwidth/latency trade-offs
• Strong SystemVerilog RTL and timing-aware micro-architecture at multi-hundred-Gbps aggregate rates; CDC discipline
• Working command of UCIe/PCIe/CXL datapath concepts and high-speed lane alignment/deskew
• Proven ownership of front-end design methodology — lint/CDC/RDC signoff, clocking/reset architecture, and design-for-test and physical-closure collaboration
• Track record translating system requirements into an implementable, verifiable architecture spec

Nice to have

• UCIe (or PCIe/CXL/CHI) interface architecture; die-to-die / chiplet experience
• FEC/coding datapath familiarity (e.g., Reed-Solomon) and gray-code mapping
• Optical transceiver, CPO, or linear-drive optics background; advanced-node (N5/N3/N2) design experience

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and vision
• Professional development opportunities and certification support
• Access to cutting-edge technology and cloud platforms
• Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams

About the company

Lumilens is building photonics infrastructure for AI supercomputing, including chip-to-chip optical interconnects and scalable photonic engines. It is a well-funded startup backed by Mayfield.