Steps to reproduce:
1. Open the attached user's project "hdrp_no_arealights.zip"
2. Observe the errors in the Console
3. Navigate to "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition-config/Runtime/ShaderConfig.cs" in the Project Window
4. Enable Area lights e.g "Area Lights = 1"
5. Observe no errors in the Console

Expected results: Scene is rendered and no exceptions are outputted when Area Lights are disabled via HDRP Config
Actual Results: Scene is not rendered and exceptions are outputted when Area Lights are disabled via HDRP Config

Reproducible on: HDRP 15.0.2 - 16.0.0 (2023.1.0a21, 2023.1.0b5, 2023.2.0a4)
Not reproducible on: HDRP 10.10.0 - 15.0.1 (2020.3.45f1, 2021.3.19f1, 2022.2.8f1, 2023.1.0a20)

Notes:
-Exceptions:
-Render Pipeline error: the XR layout still contains active passes. Executing XRSystem.EndLayout() right now.
UnityEngine.GUIUtility:ProcessEvent (int,intptr,bool&)
-NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDShadowManager.GetUnmanageDataForShadowRequestJobs (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDShadowManagerDataForShadowRequestUpateJob& shadowManagerData) (at ./Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@16.0.0/Runtime/Lighting/Shadow/HDShadowManager.cs:1090)
UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDGpuLightsBuilder.UpdateShadowRequestsAndCalculateShadowIndices (UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDCamera hdCamera, UnityEngine.Rendering.CullingResults& cullResults, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDProcessedVisibleLightsBuilder visibleLights, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDLightRenderDatabase lightEntities, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDShadowSettings hdShadowSettings, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.DebugDisplaySettings debugDisplaySettings, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDShadowManager shadowManager, UnityEngine.Rendering.HighDefinition.HDRenderPipelineAsset renderPipelineAsset, Unity.Collections.NativeArray`1[T] shadowIndices, System.Int32& debugSelectedLightShadowIndex, System.Int32& debugSelectedLightShadowCount) (at ./Library/PackageCache/com.unity.render-pipelines.high-definition@16.0.0/Runtime/Lighting/Light/HDGpuLightsBuilder.LightLoop.cs:497)