Staff Digital IC Design Engineer

MRL Consulting Group | Global Niche Technology Recruitment; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private healthcare

Enhanced sick pay

Income protection

Employee assistance support

Life assurance

Employer-supported pension

Employee share purchase opportunities

Cycle-to-work benefits

Employee referral incentives

Wellbeing initiatives

Job summary

MRL Consulting Group | Global Niche Technology Recruitment is assisting an advanced semiconductor team in Cambridge to hire a Staff Digital IC Design Engineer. This senior role covers end-to-end design from architecture and RTL through synthesis, physical implementation and production readiness.

You will collaborate with cross-functional teams across digital and analogue/mixed-signal disciplines to deliver robust digital functionality in highly integrated semiconductor devices, in a hybrid

Qualifications

• MSc/MEng/PhD in Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering or related field
• 5+ years of professional digital IC design experience
• Strong SystemVerilog knowledge and RTL design/synthesis experience
• Experience with industry-standard EDA tools and design flows
• DFT experience including scan and improving test coverage
• Experience designing for power and timing in digital circuits
• Proven ability to produce technical documentation and lead reviews

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement digital functions and blocks for ASICs and mixed-signal products
• Create synthesizable RTL using SystemVerilog and perform timing-accurate synthesis
• Develop verification environments and test benches for complex designs
• Contribute to architecture studies and design feasibility evaluations
• Define and implement DFT strategies including scan and ATPG
• Support digital physical implementation, place-and-route, and timing closure
• Provide technical leadership in a multidisciplinary team
• Document designs and participate in formal design reviews

Skills

SystemVerilog

RTL development

Python

TCL

EDA tools

DFT

Digital IC design

Education

MSc/MEng/PhD in Electronics or related

Tools

Cadence

Synopsys

Job description

Location

Cambridge, UK – Hybrid

Staff Digital IC Design Engineer

We are looking for an experienced Staff Digital IC Design Engineer to join an advanced semiconductor engineering team working on complex ASIC and mixed-signal technologies.

This is a senior technical role for an engineer with strong end-to-end digital IC design experience, from architecture and RTL development through synthesis, physical implementation, verification and production readiness.

You will work closely with engineers across digital design, analogue/mixed-signal development, verification, test and product engineering to deliver robust digital functionality within highly integrated semiconductor devices.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement digital functions and blocks for complex ASIC and mixed-signal products.


• Contribute to digital design activities throughout the product lifecycle, from early architecture through to production.


• Support architecture and feasibility studies, including evaluating digital implementation approaches and supporting system-level development.


• Develop synthesizable RTL using SystemVerilog to meet functional and performance requirements.


• Create and maintain comprehensive block-level verification environments and test benches.


• Develop behavioural models and system-level verification solutions to support efficient simulation and regression testing.


• Perform logic synthesis and apply appropriate physical constraints to achieve performance, power and area objectives.


• Define and implement Design-for-Test (DFT) strategies to support production requirements and maximise digital test coverage.


• Work with scan-based test methodologies, including scan insertion, ATPG and test-point implementation.


• Support and oversee digital physical implementation, including place-and-route activities and post-layout timing closure.


• Investigate and resolve digital design issues through simulation, testing and laboratory debugging.


• Produce clear and accurate technical documentation and contribute to formal design reviews.

Requirements

• MSc, MEng or PhD in Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering or a related discipline.


• 5+ years of professional experience in digital IC design, ideally involving standard-cell based technologies.


• Strong understanding of digital design methodologies and ASIC development flows.


• Extensive hands-on experience with RTL development and logic synthesis.


• Strong knowledge of SystemVerilog and industry-standard digital design and EDA tools.


• Experience working with timing constraints and automated physical design flows.


• Practical understanding of DFT methodologies, including scan and techniques for improving test coverage.


• Experience designing for power optimisation and managing power-related considerations within digital circuits.


• Experience debugging digital designs using simulation and/or laboratory test equipment.


• Programming or scripting experience using languages such as Python, TCL or similar.


• Strong technical documentation skills and experience working within structured design-review processes.


• Able to operate effectively in a multidisciplinary engineering environment and provide technical leadership where required.

What You'll Get in Return

A competitive salary together with a comprehensive benefits package, which may include:

• Private healthcare


• Enhanced company sick pay


• Income protection


• Employee assistance support


• Life assurance


• Employer-supported pension


• Employee share purchase opportunities


• Cycle-to-work benefits


• Employee referral incentives


• Additional wellbeing and employee support initiatives

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity to take a technical leadership role within an advanced semiconductor design environment, contributing to sophisticated digital IC development while working across architecture, design, verification, test and physical implementation.

The position would suit an experienced digital IC engineer who enjoys solving complex design problems and wants to have a meaningful technical influence on both individual projects and wider engineering methodologies.