Physical Design Engineer - Austin, United States
Originally posted 16 April 2026 by the employer.
About the role
Etched is seeking a Physical Design Engineer to own block-level implementation and verification, drive timing closure and PPA optimization, and support ASIC infrastructure. The position focuses on hardware targeting inference workloads.
What you'll do
- Run PD flows to close blocks, support ASIC infrastructure, automate PD flows, and improve CAD infrastructure. - Collaborate with RTL Designers and provide Physical Design feedback to improve PPA. - Drive dashboards that display project convergence related to PD. - Optimize tool flows and collaborate with EDA vendors to incorporate new features. - Take ownership of block-level closure and supervise third-party physical design outsourcing.
What you'll need
- 5-10+ years of previous experience with physical design. - Hands-on experience with 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, including PrimeTime, Tempus, and Voltus. - 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.
Skills: PD flows, RTL synthesis to GDSII, timing closure, Innovus, UPF low power
This role has been open 189 days — well above the 62-day median for Physical Design roles.
Physical Design · Physical Design
|
Open roles in category
664
|
Median days open
62 d
|
Median salary
$185k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Etched | All employers we track in this specialty (664 roles · 79 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 7 | 664 |
| Open roles in the wider Physical Implementation family | 8 | 1484 · 110 employers |
| Median days open | 91 d | 62 d (+29 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $185k |
Skills observed across this category: PD flows, RTL synthesis to GDSII, timing closure, Innovus, UPF low power
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 119 open roles · median 45 d
- AMD · 61 open roles · median 27 d
- Intel Corporation · 40 open roles · median 15 d
- NVIDIA · 38 open roles · median 67 d
- Synopsys · 38 open roles · median 36 d
- Broadcom · 35 open roles · median 101 d
How we counted: 664 open Physical Design (Physical Design) roles from 79 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 22 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.