Physical Design Engineer

PRI Global; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

PRI Global is seeking an experienced ASIC Power Engineer in the United States to lead power estimation and optimization across RTL and gate-level flows. The role emphasizes setting up robust power analysis flows, correlating RTL and signoff power, and driving reductions through gating and power-aware techniques.

Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in ASIC power, strong scripting and automation skills, and extensive experience with Synopsys/Cadence tools in Linux/large-scale compute environments.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience as an ASIC Power Engineer, CAD Engineer, or Physical Design Engineer.
• Experience with power estimation tools, synthesis, and physical design methodologies.
• Hands-on scripting, automation, and data analysis experience.

Responsibilities

• Set up and maintain PPRTL and PTPX/PrimePower analysis flows for power estimation.
• Generate and manage activity inputs (FSDB, VCD, and SAIF) from RTL and gate-level simulations.
• Correlate RTL-level power estimates with gate-level signoff power and investigate discrepancies.
• Generate per-block, per-hierarchy, and per-workload power breakdowns to identify major contributors.
• Recommend and evaluate power-reduction opportunities (clock gating, datapath gating, memory power).
• Automate power analysis flows and reporting using TCL, Python, and Make-based systems.
• Conduct RTL-level and netlist-level power analysis.
• Develop scripts to post-process reports for format conversion and data extraction.
• Set up and analyze reports from ASIC design flows including synthesis, physical design, power, and timing.
• Implement power intent using UPF and support silicon power characterization and profiling.
• Debug simulation-to-power flow issues end to end and communicate findings clearly.

Skills

Scripting

Automation

Data analysis

Power engineering

Power estimation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent

Tools

Synopsys PPRTL

PPRTL/PrimePower

VCS

Verdi

Design Compiler (DC)

ICC

Fusion Compiler (FC)

Cadence Joules

PowerArtist

Job description

• Set up and maintain PPRTL and PTPX/PrimePower analysis flows for average, time-based, and peak power estimation.
• Generate and manage activity inputs (FSDB, VCD, and SAIF) from RTL and gate-level simulations, including long-waveform and windowed analysis.
• Correlate RTL-level power estimates with gate-level signoff power and investigate discrepancies.
• Generate per-block, per-hierarchy, and per-workload power breakdowns to identify major power contributors, clock power, and datapath inefficiencies.
• Recommend and evaluate power-reduction opportunities, including clock gating, datapath gating, memory power optimization, idle power, and leakage reduction.
• Automate power analysis flows and reporting using TCL, Python, and Make-based build systems, integrating them into regression and CI environments.
• Conduct RTL-level and netlist-level power analysis.
• Develop scripts to post-process report and log files for format conversion, data analysis, and information extraction.
• Set up, execute, debug, and analyze reports from ASIC design flows, including synthesis, physical design, power, and timing.
• Implement selected design blocks at RTL and define power intent using UPF.
• Support silicon power characterization and power modeling/profiling at the IP and SoC levels.
• Debug simulation-to-power flow issues end to end.
• Document methodologies, findings, and recommendations, and communicate results clearly to design teams.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience as an ASIC Power Engineer, CAD Engineer, or Physical Design Engineer.
• Experience with power estimation tools, synthesis, and physical design methodologies.
• Strong understanding of power trade-offs in RTL design and back-end implementation.
• Hands-on experience with scripting, automation, and data analysis.
• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or an equivalent field/experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on production experience with Synopsys tools, including PPRTL, PTPX/PrimePower, VCS, Verdi, Design Compiler (DC), ICC, and Fusion Compiler (FC), and/or Cadence Joules and PowerArtist.
• Strong experience with Synopsys PPRTL, PTPX/PrimePower, and Verdi for power analysis and debugging.
• Experience with low-power design techniques, power analysis tools, and power-intent methodologies, including UPF specifications.
• Proficiency in TCL, Python, and Excel-based scripting for report processing, model fitting, data visualization, and analysis.
• Experience working in Linux environments and large-scale compute and job-scheduling environments.
• Experience with power modeling and profiling at the IP and SoC levels.
• Ability to troubleshoot end-to-end simulation, synthesis, and power-analysis flows.