Research Engineer (Semiconductor)

Location: Menlo Park, California, United States

Compensation: $220,000–$300,000 plus equity

Company

Periodic Labs is an AI and physical sciences company developing advanced models to accelerate breakthroughs in materials, energy, and related scientific fields.

What you will do

• Design, fabricate, and characterize short-loop semiconductor device test vehicles against defined electrical performance targets.
• Build patterned devices using photolithography, direct-write laser lithography, or e-beam lithography alongside deposition, etch, and metrology processes.
• Deposit complex thin-film stacks and engineered interfaces using PVD, PLD, MBE, and ALD/CVD techniques.
• Perform probe-station electrical characterization and develop custom measurement test benches when commercial equipment is insufficient.
• Connect material and interface properties to device outcomes, feeding results into film-stack and process development.
• Translate customer needs into experimental plans and document methods, results, and learnings for internal knowledge and AI training infrastructure.

Requirements

• Master’s degree or PhD in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field, with relevant industry experience.
• Semiconductor industry experience in device development or process integration; IDM, foundry, or memory-manufacturer experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of device physics and integration flows, with experience demonstrating device performance in short-loop test vehicles.
• Hands-on experience with lithography, thin-film deposition, etch, metrology, and probe-station device measurement.
• Ability to architect and assemble custom electrical test setups and understand how material selection and interface quality affect device performance.
• Visa sponsorship is available.

Nice to have

• Background in condensed matter physics, spintronics, magnetic materials, or quantum phenomena.
• Working knowledge of emerging memory and logic device architectures.
• Experience operating effectively in a fast-paced, ambiguous startup environment while applying industry-standard practices.

Culture & Benefits

• Work on frontier AI and physical sciences research focused on materials and energy breakthroughs.
• Operate with substantial ownership and collaborate across internal teams, external laboratories, and customer engagements.
• Equity is included in the compensation package.
• Legal support is provided throughout the visa sponsorship process.