Senior Director, AMS Layout Engineering

Upscale, Inc.; Kentucky; On-site; USD 306,000 - 337,000; Full time

Job summary

Upscale, Inc. is building a world-class SerDes engineering team to enable next-generation AI data center connectivity.

As Senior Director of AMS Layout Engineering, you will lead the physical implementation of advanced high-speed analog and mixed-signal circuits for SerDes technologies, partnering with analog/digital design, process tech, and silicon validation teams. This strategic leadership role requires deep expertise in analog layout, high-speed PHY challenges, and a proven track record of

Qualifications

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Microelectronics, or a related field.
• Experience delivering advanced-node analog or mixed-signal designs at 5nm or below.
• Strong understanding of layout techniques for high-speed SerDes and PHY circuits.
• Experience leading silicon development programs from planning to tape-out.
• Proven ability to recruit, develop, mentor, and retain engineering talent.
• Excellent communication across multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership: Lead AMS layout engineering for advanced high-speed SerDes PHYs, driving physical implementation, optimization, and sign-off across analog and mixed-signal blocks.
• Advanced-Node Expertise: Drive layout solutions at advanced nodes, addressing design rules, patterning, parasitics, device matching, signal integrity, power integrity, electromigration.
• High-Speed PHY Optimization: Partner with circuit designers to optimize bandwidth, jitter, noise, matching, power, and silicon robustness at 100G+ per-lane.
• Physical Design Methodology: Establish layout methodologies, guidelines, verification flows, and quality standards.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work with AMS design, digital implementation, technology, packaging, and silicon validation teams.
• Organization Building: Build and scale AMS layout organization through hiring, mentorship, and succession planning.
• Execution and Delivery: Plan, allocate resources, conduct technical reviews, and deliver multiple concurrent projects.
• Engineering Excellence: Foster depth, accountability, and collaboration across distributed teams.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Recruiting

Communication

AMS layout

SerDes PHYs

High-speed design

Education

Electrical Engineering / Microelectronics degree

Job description

Why join Upscale, Inc.

Upscale, Inc., is building the high-performance infrastructure powering the next generation of artificial intelligence. Backed by over $500M in funding and rapid global adoption, we are scaling systems designed for the world’s most demanding AI workloads.

We focus on first-principles engineering across silicon, systems, and networking—where performance, scale, and execution are critical.Our team is talent-dense andhigh-performing. We value ownership, technical rigor, and speed, and we offer the opportunity to work on foundational problems with immediate, real-world impact.

If you’re looking to do high-impact work, move fast, and help define the infrastructure behind the future of AI—Upscale is where you can produce meaningful work at the frontier—and operate at a high standard.

About the Role

We are building a world-class SerDes engineering team to enable next-generation AI data center connectivity. As Senior Director of AMS Layout Engineering, you will lead the physical implementation of advanced high-speed analog and mixed-signal circuits for next-generation SerDes technologies.

This is a strategic technical leadership role for an experienced AMS layout leader who combines deep expertise in advanced-node analog layout, a strong understanding of high-speed PHY design challenges, and a proven track record of building and developing high-performing engineering teams.

You will partner closely with analog design, digital design, process technology, and silicon validation teams to translate demanding electrical and physical requirements into robust, high-performance silicon implementations. You will also establish the methodologies, design practices, and organizational capabilities needed to scale our SerDes development efforts.

Responsibilities:

• Technical Leadership: Lead AMS layout engineering for advanced high-speed SerDes PHYs, driving physical implementation, optimization, and sign-off across critical analog and mixed-signal circuit blocks.
• Advanced-Node Expertise: Drive layout solutions at advanced nodes, addressing increasingly complex design rules, restrictive patterning requirements, parasitic effects, device matching, signal integrity, power integrity, and electromigration.
• High-Speed PHY Optimization: Partner with circuit designers to optimize layout-sensitive performance, including bandwidth, jitter, noise, matching, power consumption, and overall silicon robustness at 100G+ per-lane data rates.
• Physical Design Methodology: Establish and improve layout methodologies, design guidelines, verification flows, and quality standards to enable predictable execution and first-silicon success.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with AMS design, digital implementation, technology, package, and silicon validation teams to resolve complex integration challenges and deliver competitive silicon.
• Organization Building: Build and scale a strong AMS layout organization through strategic hiring, technical mentorship, talent development, and succession planning.
• Execution and Delivery: Drive project planning, resource allocation, technical reviews, and execution across multiple concurrent development efforts while maintaining high standards for quality, schedule, and engineering productivity.
• Engineering Excellence: Foster a culture of technical depth, accountability, continuous improvement, and collaboration across geographically distributed teams.

Qualifications:

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Microelectronics, or a related field.
• Proven experience delivering advanced-node analog or mixed-signal designs at 5nm or below, or equivalent leading-edge process technologies.
• Strong understanding of layout techniques for high-speed SerDes and PHY circuits, including high-speed transmitters, receivers, clocking circuits, PLLs, DLLs, and other timing-critical analog blocks.
• Demonstrated understanding of advanced process design rules, parasitic extraction, physical verification, device matching, signal integrity, and power integrity.
• Experience leading complex silicon development programs from early floorplanning and layout planning through physical verification, tape-out, and silicon bring-up.
• Proven ability to recruit, develop, mentor, and retain strong engineering talent while building an effective and collaborative team.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence technical decisions across multidisciplinary engineering organizations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Direct experience developing and delivering 100G+ per-lane SerDes PHYs
• Experience leading AMS layout teams for high-speed connectivity products targeting AI accelerators, high-performance computing, networking, or advanced data center applications.
• Deep expertise in layout-sensitive circuit optimization, including parasitic management, coupling and crosstalk mitigation, clock distribution, supply integrity, and electromagnetic interactions.
• Experience with advanced packaging, chiplet integration, and high-bandwidth die-to-die interfaces.
• A strong track record of establishing scalable engineering methodologies and delivering complex, high-performance silicon across multiple technology generations.
• Experience building engineering teams in a fast-paced, high-growth semiconductor organization.

$306,000 - $337,000 a year

Where you fall within that range depends on your experience, skills, and impact—we benchmark against internal levels to keep things fair and consistent.

Equal Opportunity

Upscale, Inc., is building a team that reflects a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.

Accessibility & Accommodations

We’re committed to making our hiring process accessible to everyone. If you need accommodations at any stage, just reach out to us at [e-mail] —we’re happy to help. Note: This inbox is only for accommodation requests.