Applied AI Engineer - VLSI Design - CA, Santa Clara, United States
$136,000 - $264,500 USD yearly
Originally posted 17 August 2026 by the employer.
About the role
Software engineers in this role develop and deploy AI agents leveraging machine learning models to solve complex problems in VLSI design. The role sits within NVIDIA's custom RAM design team, integrating machine learning-based solutions into CAD flow systems.
What you'll do
- Design, develop, and deploy AI applications using LLMs, internal and external Agentic frameworks, and related technologies. - Design and build the infrastructure required to deploy LLM-powered solutions for engineering assistants and multi-turn, multi-modal dialogue systems. - Develop agentic AI solutions to solve complex VLSI engineering problems, fine-tune models, and integrate them with CAD flow systems. - Build and maintain design databases and dashboards using agentic and deterministic retrieval mechanisms to fetch engineering data and expedite circuit design closure. - Collaborate with circuit design, layout, technology, and third-party EDA vendor teams distributed across geographies.
What you'll need
- Master's or PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering, or equivalent experience. - 5+ years of proven industry experience in a related field. - Proficiency in rapid prototyping using Python with strong knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and software engineering principles. - Experience with fine-tuning large language models, building advanced multi-agent systems, RAG pipelines, and vector databases.
Nice to have
- Experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and their applications in software and AI development. - Proficiency in standard methodologies for software development, including version control, testing, and CI/CD. - Prior experience with circuit design or HW design.
Skills: AI agents, machine learning models, VLSI design, CAD flow systems, LLMs, agentic AI solutions
This role has been open 142 days — well above the 32-day median for EDA/CAD Engineering roles.
EDA/CAD Engineering · AI EDA Design
|
Open roles in category
65
|
Median days open
32 d
|
Median salary
$205k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | NVIDIA | All employers we track in this specialty (65 roles · 22 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 8 | 65 |
| Open roles in the wider Physical Implementation family | 76 | 1494 · 109 employers |
| Median days open | 30 d | 32 d (−2 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $205k |
Skills observed across this category: AI agents, machine learning models, VLSI design, CAD flow systems, LLMs, agentic AI solutions
Who's hiring in this category
- NXP Semiconductors · 12 open roles · median 72 d
- NVIDIA (this employer) · 8 open roles · median 30 d
- Keysight Technologies · 7 open roles · median 24 d
- Synopsys · 6 open roles · median 7 d
- Cadence Design Systems · 5 open roles · median 77 d
- Qualcomm · 4 open roles · median 24 d
How we counted: 65 open EDA/CAD Engineering (AI EDA Design) roles from 22 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 24 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Physical Implementation family row. Figures refresh nightly.