HW SOC/ASIC Physical Design Engineer, Principal

Qualcomm • San Diego, CA

67d • $192,000 - $288,000

About The Position

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Physical Design Engineer to join our team. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience in RTL-to-GDSII flow, with a strong focus on Floor-planning, Clock Tree Synthesis, Place-n-Route (PnR), DRC and Timing closure. This role involves architecting and implementing robust, low-skew, power-efficient clock distribution networks tailored for a complex design to meet performance, power, and area goals. This role requires full-time onsite work in San Diego, CA (5 days per week).

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, or related field and 8+ years of ASIC design, verification, validation, integration, or related work experience.
• Master's degree in Science, Engineering, or related field and 7+ years of ASIC design, verification, validation, integration, or related work experience.
• PhD in Science, Engineering, or related field and 6+ years of ASIC design, verification, validation, integration, or related work experience.
• 10+ years of experience in physical design, with a focus on clock tree design and implementation.
• Strong understanding of digital timing concepts, clock domain crossing, and synchronous/asynchronous design.
• Proficiency with EDA tools for CTS, STA, and physical verification (e.g., ICC2, Innovus, PrimeTime).
• Experience with advanced nodes (e.g., 7nm, 5nm, 3nm) and FinFET technologies.
• Solid scripting skills (TCL, Python, Perl) for flow automation and data analysis.
• Familiarity with low-power design techniques, including clock gating and multi-voltage domains.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with custom clock tree architectures such as H-tree, mesh, or spine-based topologies.
• Knowledge of EM/IR analysis, thermal-aware clocking, and reliability modeling.
• Exposure to high-speed interface clocking (e.g., SerDes, DDR, PCIe).
• Understanding of package-level clock planning and signal integrity.

Responsibilities

• Execute floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), and routing using industry-standard tools (e.g., Innovus, ICC2).
• Drive timing closure across multiple corners and modes using static timing analysis (STA) tools (e.g., PrimeTime).
• Collaborate with RTL designers to resolve timing, congestion, and DRC issues.
• Optimize design for power, performance, and area (PPA).
• Conduct formal equivalence checks between RTL and netlist.
• Support physical verification including DRC, LVS, and antenna checks.
• Work closely with backend teams for tapeout preparation and signoff.
• Excellent scripting skills (TCL, Python, Perl) for reference flow automation.
• Execute full-chip and block-level physical verification including DRC, LVS, ERC, antenna, and density checks using industry-standard tools (e.g., Calibre, Pegasus, ICV).
• Customize and optimize reference physical verification flows to align with project needs and foundry requirements.
• Perform GDS-to-GDS comparisons to validate ECO changes, ensure layout integrity, and support tapeout readiness.
• Debug and resolve physical verification violations, working closely with layout, design, and CAD teams.
• Collaborate with foundries to ensure compliance with latest design rule manuals (DRMs) and tapeout checklists.
• Support signoff verification, including multi-corner/multi-mode analysis and ECO validation.
• Develop and maintain automation scripts for verification flows, reporting, and regression testing.
• Interface with EDA vendors to resolve tool issues and improve flow robustness.
• Participate in design reviews, providing feedback on layout quality, rule compliance, and manufacturability.
• Ensure timely delivery of clean GDSII for tapeout, with full verification signoff.
• Perform full-chip and block-level static timing analysis (STA) using industry-standard tools (e.g., Synopsys PrimeTime, Cadence Tempus).
• Develop, validate, and maintain timing constraints (SDC) for multiple modes and corners.
• Collaborate with RTL, synthesis, and physical design teams to ensure timing-aware design practices.
• Debug and resolve setup, hold, and transition violations across various PVT corners.
• Drive timing closure through iterative optimization and ECO implementation.
• Customize and enhance timing analysis flows to improve accuracy, efficiency, and scalability.
• Analyze clock tree timing, including skew, latency, and jitter impacts.
• Support signoff timing verification, including cross-domain timing and false/multicycle path handling.
• Interface with EDA vendors to resolve tool issues and improve flow robustness.
• Participate in design reviews, providing insights on timing risks and mitigation strategies.
• Define and implement low-power architecture using CLP methodology across RTL and physical design stages.
• Develop and maintain power intent files (UPF/CPF) and ensure alignment with design specifications.
• Customize and optimize low-power reference flows to meet project-specific requirements.
• Collaborate with RTL, synthesis, and physical design teams to integrate power-aware features such as power gating, retention, isolation, and level shifting.
• Perform power-aware static checks, simulation, and formal verification to validate power intent.
• Debug and resolve issues related to power domain crossings, voltage islands, and power sequencing.
• Support signoff verification including power-aware LVS/DRC, STA, and EM/IR analysis.
• Interface with EDA vendors to resolve tool issues and improve low-power flow robustness.
• Participate in design reviews, providing insights on power architecture, risks, and mitigation strategies.
• Ensure compliance with foundry low-power guidelines and contribute to successful tapeout.

Benefits

• Competitive annual discretionary bonus program.
• Opportunity for annual RSU grants.
• Highly competitive benefits package designed to support success at work, at home, and at play.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Master's degree
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees