AI EDA Engineer, Reconfigurable Compute

Touchdown Labs; Baxter (TN); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Touchdown Labs is seeking an AI EDA Engineer, Reconfigurable Compute, to advance AI-assisted design and verification flows in a full-time role. The position involves building datasets, integrating AI with EDA tools, and delivering improvements that beat baselines.

The role requires hands-on experience with synthesis, place-and-route, timing, and ML-for-EDA research; strong Python/C++ skills are essential. Location options include US and Taiwan teams with equity and benefits included.

Qualifications

• Experience in EDA tool development or ML-for-EDA.
• Proficient in Python and C++.
• Knowledge of synthesis, place-and-route, and timing.
• Experience shipping EDA features or ML-for-EDA research with measurable QoR.
• Hands-on with synthesis, P&R, or verification flows.

Responsibilities

• Own AI-assisted design and verification flows.
• Develop datasets and evaluations for design tasks.
• Integrate with open-source and commercial EDA tools.
• Take ownership of AI-assisted design-flow work.
• Build evaluations with clear quality-of-results metrics.
• Ship improvements that beat baselines.

Skills

Python

C++

Synthesis & P&R

ML for EDA

Verification

Tools

Open-source EDA tools

Job description

Open role

AI EDA Engineer, Reconfigurable Compute

Our mission

AI is becoming fundamental to how the world works. When it is, the ability to compute, and to manufacture the hardware that computes, should not be concentrated in a few places. Touchdown's mission is to make compute accessible to the whole world and to reindustrialize advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. We co-design everything for next-generation compute: the AI systems people use, the software that serves them, the architectures and chips underneath, and the packaging, test, and manufacturing that make them real. Co-design brings down the complexity and cost of building compute. That is what makes manufacturing in America competitive again, and what puts compute within reach of people and companies everywhere. We build alongside the world's best manufacturing ecosystems, including Taiwan's, and every role here makes one layer better and carries what it learns to the rest.

Why this role matters

Designing new hardware is slow and expensive. Applying AI to the design flow itself is one of the fastest ways to explore more designs and reach better results.

Technical scope

Machine learning and LLM agents for RTL generation, verification, synthesis, and place-and-route; design-space exploration; evaluation datasets and quality-of-results metrics (timing, area, power, coverage); integration with open-source and commercial EDA tools; reproducible experiments.

First 90 days

• Take ownership of AI-assisted design-flow work.
• Build evaluations with clear quality-of-results metrics.
• Ship improvements that beat our baselines.

What you will own

• AI-assisted design and verification flows.
• Datasets and evaluations for design tasks.
• Integration with open-source and commercial EDA tools.

What you bring

• EDA tool development or machine learning for EDA.
• Strong Python and C++.
• Grasp of synthesis, place-and-route, and timing.
• Has shipped EDA features or ML-for-EDA research with measured quality of results.
• Hands-on with synthesis, place-and-route, or verification flows.

Helpful experience

• LLM agents for hardware design

How we work

• AI-native by default. You use coding agents, AI-assisted analysis, and automation every day, and you check their output against measurements before anyone relies on it.
• We work alongside foundries, test houses, OSATs, and research labs, and we build with partners rather than against them.

How the role works

• Full-time.
• Location: Santa Clara, CA
• Hsinchu, Taiwan.
• Openings: 2–3.
• Taiwan roles are employed through a local employer of record. Mandarin is a strong plus for Taiwan roles; English is required for written work.
• Pay: $170,000–$230,000 base (Santa Clara, CA).
• Ranges are base pay for U.S. roles and depend on location, experience, and level. Full-time roles also include equity and benefits. Taiwan pay is set to the local market and discussed in the first call.
• Start date and employment details are discussed during the process.

Applications are reviewed against the work described here. We do not use a degree, title, or keyword list as a substitute for evidence.