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Physical Design Engineer

Etched· ASIC
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San Jose$200k - $375kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence. The role focuses on block-level implementation, timing closure, PPA optimization, and supervision of 3rd party design work within physical design for ASIC infrastructure and inference-focused products.

Responsibilities

  • Deeply understand what is involved in physical design
  • Running PD flows to close blocks, support ASIC infrastructure, automate PD flows, improve CAD infrastructure
  • Collaborate with RTL Designers and provide Physical Design feedback to improve PPA
  • Drive dashboards that show the convergence of projects related to PD
  • Optimize tool flows, working with EDA vendors to incorporate the latest features
  • Accountable for block level closure
  • Supervise the outsourcing of physical design to a 3rd party service

Qualifications

  • 5-10+ years of previous experience with PD
  • Tools, flow, and design methodology from RTL synthesis to GDSII sign-off
  • Experience with back-end design and timing closure on advanced process nodes (5nm and below)
  • Experience with Cadence (Innovus, Genus) or Synopsys (ICC2, Fusion Compiler) automated RTL-to-GDSII flows
  • Experience with sign-off tools (PrimeTime, Tempus, Voltus, etc.)
  • Experience with UPF-based low power design methodology, power verification, synthesis, scan insertion/ATPG, formal verification, floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, IR drop, and EM/antenna analysis
  • Deeply creative and able to think from first principles

Skills

Required:Physical DesignTiming ClosureCAD/EDA FlowsSign-off ToolsLow Power
Nice to have:Scripting

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
  • $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
  • Housing subsidy of $2.5k per month for those living within walking distance of the office
  • Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row)
  • Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more
  • Daily lunch + dinner in our office
  • Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification
Last updated Oct 15, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Etched

Etched is building frontier inference clusters: co-designs chips, racks, software and manufacturing to push the pareto frontier for AI hardware.

frontier inference clustersAI hardwarechipsrackssoftwaremanufacturingparto frontier
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