Physics AI Scientist III - Santa Clara, CA, United States
$142,500 - $196,500 USD yearly
Originally posted 13 August 2026 by the employer.
About the role
What you'll do
- Develop Scientific AI models that bridge scientific computing, physics-based simulation and machine learning for physics and chemistry-based engineering problems.
- Design and train surrogate models, operator-learning models, and foundation models for scientific simulations.
- Collaborate with domain experts to formulate AI solutions for complex engineering challenges.
- Develop scalable data generation, training, validation and deployment workflows for Scientific AI models.
- Publish technical innovations and drive adoption of Scientific AI across engineering applications.
What you'll need
- Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Physics, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field.
- Experience applying machine learning to real-world scientific or engineering problems.
- Strong background in scientific machine learning and numerical simulation.
- Proficiency in Python and PyTorch.
Nice to have
- Experience with surrogate modeling, PINNs, operator learning (e.g., FNO), or foundation models.
- Experience with HPC, distributed training, large-scale scientific datasets or scalable ML workflows.
Skills: AI models, semiconductor engineering, machine learning, physics-aware surrogate models, scientific computing
This role has been open 65 days — well above the 44-day median for Software Engineering Semiconductor roles.
Software Engineering Semiconductor · AI EDA Design
|
Open roles in category
112
|
Median days open
44 d
|
Median salary
$200k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | Applied Materials | All employers we track in this specialty (112 roles · 32 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 14 | 112 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 156 | 6114 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 56 d | 44 d (+12 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $200k |
Skills observed across this category: AI models, semiconductor engineering, machine learning, physics-aware surrogate models, scientific computing
Who's hiring in this category
- Applied Materials (this employer) · 14 open roles · median 56 d
- KLA Corporation · 13 open roles · median 29 d
- Micron Technology · 13 open roles · median 37 d
- Lam Research · 8 open roles · median 21 d
- Cadence Design Systems · 7 open roles · median 19 d
- NVIDIA · 7 open roles · median 163 d
How we counted: 112 open Software Engineering Semiconductor (AI EDA Design) roles from 32 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 17 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 Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.