CPU Physical Design Engineer Staff

QUALCOMM, Inc.; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 900,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Qualcomm India Private Limited is seeking experienced ASIC Physical Design Engineers to join the Snapdragon CPU team. You will drive block-level physical design from RTL to GDSII for high-performance SoCs in sub-10nm technology, focusing on PPA, timing, and signoff.

The role requires 7+ years in ASIC Physical Design with Cadence Innovus and Synopsys Fusion tools, collaborating with RTL, Synthesis, STA, and Verification teams, and strong scripting skills in Tcl/Python.

Qualifications

• Degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field.
• 7+ years of ASIC Physical Design and high-performance CPU implementation.
• Experience with RTL-to-GDSII implementation flow.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive block-level physical design from RTL to GDSII.
• Perform Place & Route, timing closure, power optimization, and physical signoff.
• Develop methodologies and flows to improve PPA.
• Create experiments to evaluate implementation strategies and QoR.
• Collaborate with RTL, Synthesis, STA, Power, Thermal, and Verification teams.
• Debug and resolve timing, power, congestion, and physical verification issues.

Skills

ASIC physical design

RTL-to-GDSII flow

Place & Route

Timing closure

Power optimization

Floorplanning

CTS

Routing

Scripting (Tcl/Python)

Power/Signal integrity

Education

Bachelors in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Masters in Electrical/Computer Engineering

PhD in related field

Tools

Cadence Innovus

Synopsys Fusion Compiler

PrimeTime/Tempus

Job description

Job Description:

Company: Qualcomm India Private Limited

Job Area: Engineering Group, Engineering Group > Hardware Engineering

General Summary: As a leading technology innovator, Qualcomm pushes the boundaries of what's possible to enable next-generation experiences and drives digital transformation to help create a smarter, connected future for all. As a Qualcomm Hardware Engineer, you will plan, design, optimize, verify, and test electronic systems, bring-up yield, circuits, mechanical systems, Digital/Analog/RF/optical systems, equipment and packaging, test systems, FPGA, and/or DSP systems that launch cutting-edge, world class products. Qualcomm Hardware Engineers collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop solutions and meet performance requirements.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 4+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 3+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.
• PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or related field and 2+ years of Hardware Engineering or related work experience.

Job Overview

We are looking for bright and highly motivated ASIC Physical Design Engineers with strong analytical and technical skills to join our Snapdragon CPU team. This is an exciting opportunity to work on high-performance CPU designs for advanced SoCs in sub-10nm technologies targeting Mobile, Compute, and IoT products. Similar responsibilities are reflected in internal CPU Physical Design roles focused on RTL-to-GDSII implementation, PPA optimization, timing closure, and advanced-node design.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and drive block-level physical design implementation from RTL/netlist to GDSII.
• Perform Place & Route (PnR), timing closure, power optimization, physical verification, and signoff activities.
• Develop and optimize implementation methodologies, flows, and recipes to achieve best-in-class Performance, Power, and Area (PPA).
• Create and execute design experiments to evaluate implementation strategies and drive QoR improvements.
• Analyze, compare, and track implementation metrics to guide project decisions.
• Collaborate closely with RTL Design, Synthesis, STA, Power, Thermal, and Verification teams to achieve aggressive PPA goals.
• Debug and resolve implementation challenges related to timing, power, congestion, and physical verification.
• Contribute to methodology improvements, automation, and flow enhancement using scripting.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in ASIC Physical Design and high-performance CPU implementation.
• Strong experience in RTL-to-GDSII implementation flow.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on experience with Place & Route using Cadence Innovus and/or Synopsys Fusion Compiler. Relevant skills commonly include floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, timing closure, and PPA optimization.
• Strong understanding of complete ASIC implementation flow, including:
  • Floorplanning
  • Power Planning
  • Placement
  • Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS)
  • Routing
  • Timing Closure
  • Physical Verification and Signoff
• Experience with STA and timing signoff using PrimeTime and/or Tempus.
• Expertise in SDC constraint generation, validation, and debugging.
• Experience with multi-power domain designs and UPF/CPF implementation.
• Good understanding of low-power design and implementation techniques.
• Knowledge of formal verification tools such as Formality and/or Conformal.
• Familiarity with IR/EM analysis, signal integrity, and power analysis.
• Strong scripting skills in Tcl, Perl, and/or Python.
• Experience working on advanced technology nodes (7nm and below preferred).
• Understanding of CPU microarchitecture and critical timing paths.
• Experience implementing high-frequency, high-performance CPU designs.
• Strong knowledge of clock architecture and CTS methodologies for high-speed designs.
• Exposure to constraint management tools and Verilog coding.
• Excellent debugging, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Applicants

Qualcomm is an equal opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, rest assured that Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process. You may e-mail [e-mail] or call Qualcomm's toll-free number found here. Upon request, Qualcomm will provide reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities to be able participate in the hiring process. Qualcomm is also committed to making our workplace accessible for individuals with disabilities. (Keep in mind that this email address is used to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will not respond here to requests for updates on applications or resume inquiries).

Qualcomm expects its employees to abide by all applicable policies and procedures, including but not limited to security and other requirements regarding protection of Company confidential information and other confidential and/or proprietary information, to the extent those requirements are permissible under applicable law.