Principal Physical Design Engineer

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior Physical Design Engineer to join our high-performance design team working on next-generation transceiver IPs targeting the TSMC 3nm and advanced technology nodes 

Key Responsibilities

• Perform block-level and top-level physical implementation including floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, and physical verification for high-speed designs in advanced technology nodes.

• Collaborate with RTL and STA teams to ensure clean handoffs and support timing, area, and power convergence.

• Apply advanced physical design techniques to support multiple voltage and frequency domains, hierarchical design, and physical-aware synthesis.

• Work on key physical design areas including:

  • EM/IR analysis and power grid optimization

  • Congestion analysis and mitigation

  • Clock skew optimization and clock quality improvement

  • RC extraction-aware placement and routing

• Integrate IPs and top-level blocks with attention to physical interfaces, constraints, and timing alignment.

• Support floorplan development and chip partitioning for high-speed transceiver designs.

• Perform ECO implementation and assist with tapeout signoff activities.

• Ensure DRC, LVS, ANT, CELL, and ERC clean databases using industry-standard physical verification tools.

• Use industry-standard tools such as ICC2, Innovus, Voltus, RedHawk, and Calibre for implementation and signoff.

• Develop and maintain automation scripts in Tcl, Python, or Perl to improve physical design flows and productivity.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related field.

• 5-10 years of experience in physical design, preferably with advanced technology nodes.

• Strong experience with:

  • Floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, and IR drop mitigation

  • Signoff checks such as DRC, LVS, ANT, and ERC, along with debugging

  • Timing closure support in collaboration with STA teams

  • Hands-on use of tools such as Synopsys ICC2, Cadence Innovus, Calibre, and Voltus

• Experience integrating high-speed IPs such as SerDes or PHYs into SoC or chiplet-based environments.

• Experience working on high-frequency datapath and DSP-related designs.

• Solid scripting skills for automation and productivity enhancement.

• Good problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.