Lightmatter
Sr. Staff Physical Design Engineer
$220K–$270K
Mountain View, CA +1 · Senior Staff · Full-time · Posted Jan 6, 2026
- Location
- Mountain View, CA
Toronto, ON - Experience
- 12+ years; alternatively, a Master’s degree with 8 years of industry experience is listed as preferred.
- Education
- Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering.
- Visa sponsorship
- Candidates should have capacity to comply with federally mandated U.S. export control requirements.
About the job
Implements and optimizes complex digital blocks and full-chip physical design for high-performance ASICs, including timing, power, clocking, and physical verification.
What you'll do
- Implement digital blocks from synthesis through physical verification and drive full-chip STA signoff, timing closure, and ECOs.
- Drive power analysis and optimization, floor planning, IO placement, and clock distribution; debug DRC/LVS issues.
- Write TCL, Python, or Shell scripts to automate or customize design flows and work with EDA companies to resolve tool issues.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering.
- 12+ years of industry experience as a Physical Design Engineer.
- Completed block or top-level physical design for large ASICs or mixed-signal chips that taped out.
- Thorough knowledge of timing closure and LVS/DRC closure; experience with TCL and Python or other scripting languages.
Nice to have
- Master’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering with 8 years of industry experience; hands-on Cadence tools experience.
- Tape-out experience with 3nm designs; willingness to do manual layouts and learn silicon photonics layout; EM/IR analysis using industry signoff tools.
Pay
$220,000 — $270,000 USD (total compensation; the posting does not specify whether this is base salary or total pay)
Tools
TCL, Python, Shell, Cadence, 3nm
AI focus
Supports high-performance ASICs for advanced AI and HPC workloads; the role focuses on physical design rather than AI development.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative