Frontier Physical Design Engineer: Block & Subsystem

Etched; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision

Housing subsidy

Relocation support to San Jose

Daily meals in office

Unlimited compute budget

Wellness benefits

Job summary

Etched is building a new category of AI hardware: frontier inference clusters. As a Physical Design Engineer, you will own block-level implementation from synthesis through GDSII sign-off, driving block-level timing closure and collaborating with RTL designers to provide actionable feedback.

You will supervise PD work, optimize PPA, and contribute to a fast-paced, startup environment in Austin with collaboration across San Jose.

Qualifications

• 5–10+ years of PD experience.
• Experience from RTL synthesis to GDSII.
• Back-end design and timing closure on 5nm nodes or below.
• Proficiency with Cadence/Synopsys RTL-to-GDSII flows.
• Experience with sign-off tools: PrimeTime, Tempus, Voltus.

Responsibilities

• Own block/subsystem PD end-to-end through GDSII.
• Drive timing closure across corners and modes.
• Sign-off across EM, IR drop, RC extraction and DRC/LVS.
• Create timing budgets and views for block integration.
• Provide PD feedback to RTL to improve PPA.
• Improve PD flow and share learnings with RTL-to-GDSII.
• Supervise outsourced PD work and ensure quality.

Skills

Physical Design

Timing Closure

RTL-to-GDSII Flow

Cadence Innovus

Synopsys Fusion Compiler

Scripting (Tcl/Python)

Power/IR drop analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering

Master's degree in EE/CS

Tools

Cadence Genus

PrimeTime

Tempus

Voltus

RC Extraction

Antenna checks

Job description

Etched is building a new category of AI hardware: frontier inference clusters. As a Physical Design Engineer, you will own block-level implementation from synthesis through GDSII sign-off, driving block-level timing closure and collaborating with RTL designers to provide actionable feedback.

You will supervise PD work, optimize PPA, and contribute to a fast-paced, startup environment in Austin with collaboration across San Jose.