SRAM Physical Design Engineer

AMD; Boxborough (MA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

AMD’s Cores Organization is seeking an experienced Physical Design Engineer to advance SRAM and memory structures for next‑gen CPU products. You will work with architecture, RTL, circuit, and physical design teams to balance performance, power, area, and schedule.

You will contribute to floorplanning, timing closure, and signoff activities while addressing complex design and tool challenges, drawing on Verilog RTL expertise and strong problem-solving skills.

Qualifications

• Experience with memory-centric physical implementation and SRAM design.
• Strong understanding of CPU architectures and design tradeoffs.
• Familiarity with Verilog RTL modifications for timing and power optimization.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to physical design and implementation of high-speed SRAM and memory structures.
• Collaborate with architecture, RTL, circuit, and physical design teams to optimize power, performance, and area.
• Perform floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, timing closure, and design optimization.
• Analyze and resolve implementation, timing, power, and signoff challenges.
• Develop creative solutions to complex design and tool-related problems.
• Contribute to methodology and flow improvements that increase design quality and efficiency.
• Create and deliver technical presentations, design reviews, and documentation for engineering teams and management.
• Support physical verification, extraction, reliability analysis, and design signoff activities.

Skills

High-speed SRAM design

Memory design

CPU architecture understanding

Verilog RTL proficiency

Scripting (Python/Tcl/Perl/C)

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science

Tools

Industry-standard EDA tools for physical design

Parasitic extraction tools

Clock tree synthesis tools

Job description

ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. ADVANCE THE WORLD.

At AMD, we believe technology can change lives for the better. It can heal us, entertain us, and make us more connected, productive, and understanding of the world around us. And we’re looking for talent who feel the same: people who want to leave the planet better than they found it, those who don’t shy away from humanity’s challenges but are determined to help solve them.

AMD is powering the next generation of supercomputing, high-performance computing, cloud, and AI. Whether you’re designing next-gen processors, enabling AI breakthroughs, or creating go-to-market plans, every role at AMD contributes to something bigger — technology that moves the world forward.

THE ROLE:

AMD’s Cores Organization develops the CPU cores and cache technologies that power next-generation server, client, and gaming products. We are seeking an experienced Physical Design Engineer to help drive the implementation of high-performance SRAM and memory structures that are fundamental to modern CPU architectures. In this role, you will contribute to the design and optimization of performance-critical SRAM and memory structures within AMD processor cores. You will collaborate closely with architecture, RTL, circuit design, and physical design teams to deliver solutions that balance performance, power, area, and schedule. Direct exposure to SRAM design and memory-centric implementation challenges is highly valued for this position.

THE PERSON:

The ideal candidate has strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills and exceptional attention to detail. We work on programs with long development cycles, so self-motivation and a commitment to meeting deadlines is required. We are pushing the envelope on chip performance, so the status quo must be challenged on every program. This requires creativity and innovation, but also excellent verbal and written communication skills. We work in small teams, but we are part of a large cross-site Cores organization, so teamwork is also vital to our success.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Contribute to the physical design and implementation of high-speed SRAM and memory structures for advanced CPU products.
• Work closely with architecture, RTL, circuit design, and physical design teams to optimize power, performance, area, and schedule.
• Perform floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, timing closure, and design optimization activities.
• Analyze and resolve implementation, timing, power, and signoff challenges.
• Develop creative solutions to complex design and tool-related problems.
• Contribute to methodology and flow improvements that increase design quality and efficiency.
• Create and deliver technical presentations, design reviews, and documentation for engineering teams and management.
• Support physical verification, extraction, reliability analysis, and design signoff activities.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:

• Experience with high-speed SRAM design, memory design, or memory-centric physical implementation.
• Strong understanding of CPU, cache, or other performance-critical digital designs.
• Strong understanding of computer architecture, hardware design concepts, and performance, power, and area tradeoffs.
• Knowledge of chip-level floorplanning, bus and pin planning, clock tree synthesis, placement, optimization, routing, and timing closure.
• Experience with parasitic extraction, static timing analysis, physical verification, and design signoff methodologies.
• Familiarity with power integrity analysis, including IR-drop and electromigration.
• Ability to comprehend complex Verilog RTL and make modifications to support timing, power, or implementation objectives.
• Knowledge of digital circuits, including high-speed flops, synchronizers, level shifters, and SRAM.
• Experience using industry-standard EDA tools for physical design and implementation.
• Familiarity with scripting or programming languages such as Tcl, Perl, C, Python, or similar.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field preferred.

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Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance.

AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD's "Responsible AI Policy" is available here.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.