Physical Design Methodology CAD Engineer - San Jose, United States
Originally posted 21 September 2026 by the employer.
About the role
This role involves developing physical design methodology and CAD tools to support high-performance, power-efficient SoCs at Apple. The position focuses on exploring and enabling new technology nodes, stdcells, and tools for design teams, including leveraging GenAI tools to improve design team productivity.
What you'll do
- Participate in cross-functional teams to address physical design challenges.
- Develop innovative solutions in physical design and optimization.
- Develop and support implementation flows for multiple projects and design teams.
- Develop and maintain custom CAD tools for implementation and signoff.
- Create flows to enable successful deployment of new technology nodes.
- Develop tools and methodologies for PPA and productivity, including ML based solutions.
- Use and leverage GenAI tools to develop GenAI applications to improve Design team productivity.
- Collaborate with physical design verification, RC extraction, IR, and static timing analysis (STA) teams.
- Work with EDA tool vendors to resolve tool issues and identify improvements.
What you'll need
- Knowledge of Tcl, Python or Perl scripting languages.
- BS degree.
Nice to have
- Understanding of VLSI / Physical Design basics.
- Exposure to CAD Tool, CAD flow or PD methodology.
- Understanding of Physical Design analysis, including extraction, timing, noise, physical verification, EMIR.
Skills: Physical Design Methodology, CAD team, implementation flows, custom CAD tools, new technology nodes, GenAI tools
This role has been open 20 days — well below the 81-day median for EDA/CAD Engineering roles.
EDA/CAD Engineering · EDA Tools
|
Open roles in category
690
|
Median days open
81 d
|
Median salary
$195k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Apple | All employers we track in this specialty (690 roles · 74 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 21 | 690 |
| Open roles in the wider Physical Implementation family | 36 | 1475 · 107 employers |
| Median days open | 12 d | 81 d (−69 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $195k |
Skills observed across this category: Physical Design Methodology, CAD team, implementation flows, custom CAD tools, new technology nodes, GenAI tools
Who's hiring in this category
- Cadence Design Systems · 160 open roles · median 169 d
- Synopsys · 61 open roles · median 38 d
- Micron Technology · 42 open roles · median 91 d
- Qualcomm · 42 open roles · median 62 d
- NVIDIA · 41 open roles · median 75 d
- GlobalFoundries · 31 open roles · median 52 d
How we counted: 690 open EDA/CAD Engineering (EDA Tools) roles from 74 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 11 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.