VLSI CAD Engineer

Apple Inc.; Cupertino (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. in Cupertino seeks a CAD software engineer to design and verify logic equivalence and ECO flows for frontend and physical design teams of high‑performance SoCs. You will build and maintain flows, collaborate with EDA vendors, and apply ML techniques to improve CAD tools and productivity.

You will develop, support and scale solutions across projects, requiring strong scripting skills and hands‑on PD/ CAD experience. Join a team shaping Apple’s cutting‑edge silicon technologies.

Qualifications

• Experience in CAD flow or PD methodology development.
• Proficiency with Tcl, Python or Perl scripting.
• Hands on knowledge of industry standard PNR tools.
• Hands on experience with high performance and low power implementation flows.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop software for integrated circuit design and verification.
• Architect, develop, maintain, and deploy CAD applications for logical equivalence and ECO flows.
• Support frontend and physical design teams, including project closure, ECO verification, and flow signoff.
• Triage and resolve CAD flow problems, and work around third-party EDA tool issues.
• Drive bug fixes and architect enhancements to EDA tools.
• Develop, support, and scale logic equivalence solutions globally.
• Collaborate with other CAD engineers to integrate solutions into their flows.

Skills

CAD flow/PD methodology development

Scripting (Tcl/Python/Perl)

High performance & low power flows

Tools

PNR tools

Job description

Do you love creating elegant solutions to highly complex challenges? Do you intrinsically see the importance in every detail? As part of our Silicon Technologies group, you’ll help design and manufacture our next-generation, high-performance, power-efficient processor, system-on-chip (SoC). You’ll ensure Apple products and services can seamlessly and efficiently handle the tasks that make them beloved by millions. Joining this group means you’ll be responsible for crafting and building the technology that fuels Apple’s devices. Together, you and your team will enable our customers to do all the things they love with their devices.As part of the Hardware Technology CAD team, you’ll help design our next-generation, high-performance, power-efficient SoCs. You will work on world class CPU, GPU, Analog/Mixed Signal and SOC designs by developing flows, tools and methodologies for future Apple products! You will explore and enable new technology nodes, stdcells and tools for design teams. You will collaborate with design teams and tool vendors to improve PPA (Power, Performance, Area) and design productivity. You will actively work on developing internal methodologies using your understanding of CAD algorithms and ML. We are looking for passionate engineers to join our team. In this role, you will be impacting a wide range of chips used across Apple’s world-class products!

Description

Own and evolve logic equivalence checking flows and ECO verification capabilities for frontend and physical design teams.Serve as the primary CAD support contact for the software and scripts design teams rely on to verify implementation flows and complete ECOs.Apply machine learning and generative AI to continuously improve logic equivalence tools and flows.Act as the technical interface with EDA vendors to drive issue resolution and tool improvements.Own end-to-end issue closure across projects.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop software for integrated circuit design and verification.
• Architect, develop, maintain, and deploy CAD applications for logical equivalence and ECO flows.
• Support multiple frontend and physical design teams, including project closure, ECO verification, and flow signoff.
• Triage and resolve CAD flow problems, and work around third-party EDA tool issues.
• Drive bug fixes and architect enhancements to EDA tools.
• Develop, support, and scale logic equivalence solutions globally.
• Collaborate with other CAD engineers to integrate solutions into their flows.

Preferred Qualifications

• - Experience in CAD flow or PD methodology development.
• - Proficiency with Tcl, Python or Perl scripting languages.
• - Hands on knowledge of industry standard PNR tools.
• - Hands on experience with high performance and low power implementation flows.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.