Senior EDA Physical Design (PnR) Engineer

Job description

Role Summary

We are seeking a highly motivated Senior EDA Physical Design Engineer with 3 to 8 years of industry experience to develop, deploy, and support advanced physical implementation methodologies for semiconductor designs. In this role, you will combine hands-on physical design expertise with EDA methodology development and customer-facing technical support. You will evaluate emerging EDA technologies, develop robust and scalable RTL-to-GDSII implementation flows, and help engineering teams achieve their performance, power, area, runtime, and quality objectives.

You will work in a collaborative, global environment with product engineering, EDA teams and EDA vendors. The position is suited to an engineer who enjoys solving challenging implementation problems, developing production-quality design flows, and helping engineering teams adopt effective physical design methodologies.

Key Responsibilities

Physical Design Implementation and Optimization Perform and support physical implementation activities, including floorplanning, power planning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, post-route optimization, and signoff preparation. Analyze and resolve complex issues related to timing closure, congestion, routing, power integrity, design-rule compliance, and implementation quality. Evaluate quality-of-results trade-offs across timing, power, area, routability, runtime, and design robustness.

Support hierarchical and large-scale SoC implementation methodologies. Collaborate with relevant teams to achieve physical signoff readiness. Methodology Development and Deployment Develop, validate, document, and deploy robust physical implementation methodologies and production-quality EDA flows. Create reusable flow components, scripts, checks, reporting utilities, and automation infrastructure. Standardize implementation procedures and reports to improve consistency across projects.

Validate methodology changes using representative designs, regression testing, and measurable quality-of-results criteria. Support migration and adoption of new implementation platforms, including flow porting, validation, testing, and user onboarding. Apply disciplined software engineering practices, including version control, modular design, testing, release management, and technical documentation. Drive improvements in flow robustness, scalability, usability, runtime, and quality of results.

New Technology Evaluation and Proof of Concept Research and evaluate new EDA tool functions, implementation technologies, and semiconductor design methodologies. Define technical evaluation criteria and conduct proof-of-concept activities using representative designs. Compare alternative tools and approaches based on quality of results, runtime, scalability, automation, usability, and integration requirements. Identify technical limitations, deployment risks, and methodology improvement opportunities.

Document findings and present recommendations to engineering, product, and technical leadership teams. Convert successful evaluations into repeatable, supportable, and production-ready methodologies. Explore AI-assisted EDA capabilities and emerging automation technologies to improve engineering productivity and design outcomes. Cross-Functional Collaboration Work closely with EDA R&D vendors, product engineering, and design teams to identify requirements and resolve implementation challenges.

Provide structured technical feedback to product and R&D teams based on project deployment and customer experience. Collaborate across multiple sites and time zones to share best practices and maintain consistency across projects. Participate in technical reviews, methodology planning, issue prioritization, and continuous-improvement initiatives. Communicate technical risks, trade-offs, results, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Customer Engagement and Technical Support Provide hands-on technical support to semiconductor customers and internal project teams adopting physical implementation methodologies and EDA flows. Investigate, reproduce, debug, and resolve complex issues related to tools, scripts, constraints, implementation methodologies, and design quality. Guide customers through flow setup, methodology adoption, optimization, and issue resolution.

Deliver technical presentations, demonstrations, training materials, and implementation recommendations. Coordinate with product and R&D teams to escalate issues, communicate customer requirements, and track technical resolutions. Build trusted technical relationships through responsiveness, ownership, sound engineering judgment, and clear communication. Help ensure that deployed flows remain robust, scalable, and effective across multiple concurrent projects.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Microelectronics, Semiconductor Engineering, or a related technical discipline. 3 to 8 years of relevant industry experience in ASIC physical design, semiconductor implementation, EDA or CAD engineering, physical implementation methodology development, or EDA applications engineering. Technical Expertise Strong hands-on experience with synthesis, floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, timing closure, congestion mitigation, and power and area optimization.

Practical knowledge of RTL-to-GDSII implementation and physical signoff methodologies. Experience with Synopsys Fusion Compiler, IC Compiler II, Cadence Innovus or equivalent physical design tools. Strong understanding of static timing analysis, SDC constraints, clocking strategies, and setup and hold timing closure. Experience optimizing performance, power, area, congestion, runtime, and overall quality of results. Familiarity with hierarchical SoC implementation, low-power design concepts, physical verification, and EDA flow integration.

Debugging, Automation, and Problem Solving Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to diagnose complex tool, flow, constraint, and design issues. Proficiency in scripting and automation using Tcl, Python, or shell scripting in a Linux or Unix environment. Ability to develop maintainable, reusable, and well-documented flow infrastructure. Experience interpreting implementation reports, log files, timing reports, congestion data, and quality-of-results metrics.

Ability to work independently, prioritize technical issues, and take ownership of deliverables through resolution. Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new tools, technologies, and methodologies. Communication and Collaboration Strong written and verbal communication skills in English. Ability to explain complex implementation issues, technical trade-offs, and recommendations clearly. Experience working directly with customers, design teams, or EDA tool users.

Strong presentation skills and the ability to deliver technical demonstrations, training, and methodology guidance. Ability to work effectively in a global, multi-site, and cross-functional engineering environment. Collaborative working style, customer-support mindset, and commitment to high-quality technical delivery.

Preferred Skills

Advanced Tcl, Python, Perl, or shell scripting experience for EDA flow automation. Hands-on experience with RTL-to-GDSII implementation and physically-aware synthesis. Experience developing or optimizing integrated Synopsys Fusion Compiler flows covering synthesis, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, and timing closure. Knowledge of multi-mode, multi-corner analysis, advanced-node implementation challenges, and hierarchical SoC design.

Experience deploying or standardizing physical implementation methodologies across multiple projects. Familiarity with AI-assisted EDA workflows, data-driven optimization, or emerging semiconductor design technologies. Experience leading proof-of-concept activities or supporting globally distributed engineering teams.