Principal Engineer - Standard Cell Design

Intel Corporation; Phoenix (AZ); Hybrid; USD 221,000 - 312,000; Full time

Job summary

Intel Corporation is seeking a Principal Engineer to architect and optimize standard cell libraries for high-performance, low‑voltage operation. You will shape library strategy, drive circuit innovations, and lead cross‑functional collaboration with DTCO, EDA partners, and product teams in the US.

Mentoring junior engineers and advancing methodology will be key. This role supports Intel Foundry and demands strong leadership across CPU/SoC contexts.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. or Master’s degree required.
• 10+ years of industry experience with foundation IP design, DTCO & advanced semiconductor technology.
• Deep MOSFET physics and device-level understanding required.
• Experience with standard cell development and topology choices.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and communicate findings clearly.

Responsibilities

• Shape standard cell library strategy, including content definition and ecosystem usability.
• Drive circuit innovation for high-performance and low-voltage operation in sequential/clocking circuits.
• Lead PPA and Vmin optimization across performance, power, and area tradeoffs.
• Coordinate with DTCO, product design teams, and EDA partners to align scalable solutions.
• Mentor circuit designers and raise design quality and methodology across teams.
• Develop and refine circuit methodology, naming conventions, modeling approaches, and validation frameworks.

Skills

MOSFET physics

Transistor-level design

Standard cell development

PPA optimization

Low-power techniques

Clocking/sequential elements

Data analysis & communication

Mentoring junior engineers

Cross-functional collaboration

SPICE simulations

EDA tools

Education

Ph.D. or Master’s degree

10+ years in foundation IP design

Tools

Spice simulation tools

EDA tools

Job description

Job Details:

Job Description:

Come build what’s next in scalable, high-performance silicon.

At Intel, our standard cell libraries sit at the foundation of every product we build. This role is more than designing circuits; it’s about shaping how we deliver power, performance, and scalability across future nodes and products.

We’re looking for a Principal Engineer who thrives on solving hard problems, someone who can bring deep circuit expertise and help define the direction of library architecture, DTCO, and design methodology. Your work will directly influence how our designs scale across CPU, GPU, and emerging architectures.

Why this role matters
As process nodes become more complex, delivering competitive Power, Performance and Area (PPA) and Vmin requires more than incremental improvements. This role plays a key part in defining the next generation of library design, balancing usability, scalability, and performance while enabling product teams to move faster with confidence.

A day in this role
In this role, you will:

• Shape standard cell library strategy, including content definition, cell selection, and ecosystem usability.

• Drive circuit innovation for high-performance and low-voltage operation, especially in sequential and clocking circuits.

• Lead PPA and Vmin optimization efforts, working through complex tradeoffs across performance, power, and area.

• Drive optimization of standard cell libraries on Intel’s leading edge process nodes to meet internal and external foundry customer needs

• Directly interface with key Intel foundry customers to understand technology and library gaps and drive co-optimization with Intel foundry technology development teams and EDA partners

• Partner with DTCO, product design teams, and EDA partners to align on scalable solutions.

• Guide and mentor circuit designers, helping raise the bar on design quality and methodology.

• Lead or contribute to working groups, bringing clarity and convergence across diverse stakeholders.

• Develop and refine circuit methodology, including naming conventions, modeling approaches, validation frameworks, and best practices.

• Analyze silicon and design data to identify outliers, debug issues, and drive improvements.

• Partner with process technology teams to define and refine process requirements for standard cell development.

• Help define forward-looking directions, including new circuit topologies and design approaches.

• Mentor and develop technical leaders within the organization, fostering a culture of growth, collaboration, and excellence

Big challenges you’ll take on.

• Balancing aggressive PPA and Vmin targets in highly complex and low-voltage regimes.

• Simplifying and scaling the library ecosystem across multiple nodes and product lines.

• Driving technical alignment across teams with different priorities and constraints.

• Making high-impact technical decisions where data may be incomplete or evolving.

• Translating complex circuit and system challenges into practical, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• In-depth understanding of MOSFET electrical characteristics, transistor device level physics, layout and variability at advanced technology nodes

• Working knowledge of transistor level design of static circuits including state retaining elements such as latches and flops in circuit design, standard cell development, or related domains.

• Understanding of std cell circuit design tradeoffs across power, performance, area and Vmin

• Experience with standard cell characterization tools and Spice circuit simulations

• Experience in identification, design and verification of cells targeted to improve product level PPA

• Ability to lead analyze data, identify trend and effectively communicate conclusion

• Expertise in low-power, high-performance circuit techniques, including clocking and sequential elements.

• Solid understanding of PPA tradeoffs, Vmin behavior, and variation impacts.

• Ability and willingness to proactively support development of junior engineers

• Collaborative mindset and great team player

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Strong problem-solving skills in ambiguous, complex environments.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. or Master’s degree

• With 10+ years of industry experience with foundation IP design, design-technology co-optimization & advanced semiconductor technology.

Preferred Qualifications

• Good track record of technical leadership and delivery

• Experience in designing around local layout effect & technical leadership and/or management

• Some understanding or experience of block-level design tool for feedback to optimize standard cell library content and/or design

• Background in compact modeling, characterization, or EDA tool interaction.

• Experience working across CPU, GPU, or SoC design teams.

• Publications, patents, or recognized technical contributions.

• Experience leading working groups or driving cross-org technical alignment.

Job Type:

Experienced Hire

Shift:

Shift 1 (United States of America)

Primary Location:

US, California, Santa Clara

Additional Locations:

US, Arizona, Phoenix, US, California, Folsom, US, Oregon, Hillsboro, US, Texas, Austin

Business group:

Intel Foundry strives to make every facet of semiconductor manufacturing state-of-the-art while delighting our customers – from delivering cutting-edge silicon process and packaging technology leadership for the AI era, enabling our customers to design leadership products, global manufacturing scale and supply chain, through the continuous yield improvements to advanced packaging all the way to final test and assembly. We ensure our foundry customers’ products receive our utmost focus in terms of service, technology enablement and capacity commitments. Employees in the Foundry Technology Manufacturing are part of a worldwide factory network that designs, develops, manufactures, and assembly/test packages the compute devices to improve the lives of every person on Earth.

Posting Statement:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.

Position of Trust

This role is a Position of Trust. Should you accept this position, you must consent to and pass an extended Background Investigation, which includes (subject to country law), extended education, SEC sanctions, and additional criminal and civil checks. For internals, this investigation may or may not be completed prior to starting the position. For additional questions, please contact your Recruiter.

Benefits

We offer a total compensation package that ranks among the best in the industry. It consists of competitive pay, stock bonuses, and benefit programs which include health, retirement, and vacation. Find out more about the benefits of working at Intel.

Annual Salary Range for jobs which could be performed in the US: $220,920.00-311,890.00 USD

The range displayed on this job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target compensation for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific compensation range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Work Model for this Role

This role will be eligible for our hybrid work model which allows employees to split their time between working on-site at their assigned Intel site and off-site. Job posting details (such as work model, location or time type) are subject to change.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Intel is committed to Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) compliance and ethical hiring practices. We do not charge any fees during our hiring process. Candidates should never be required to pay recruitment fees, medical examination fees, or any other charges as a condition of employment. If you are asked to pay any fees during our hiring process, please report this immediately to your recruiter.