Physical Design Engineer - Block Level, Subsystem Implementation

Etched is building a new category of AI hardware: frontier inference clusters. As a Physical Design Engineer, you will own block-level implementation from synthesis through GDSII sign-off. You will drive Block-level & Subsystem PPA Optimization, and collaborate closely with RTL designers to provide actionable feedback, ensuring we iterate at unprecedented speeds to bring our products to market.

Responsibilities

Own block-level and/or subsystem physical design end to end, including floorplanning, synthesis, placement, clock tree synthesis, and routing through GDSII; Drive block-level timing closure across all corners and modes, including constraint development, STA debug, and functional and timing ECO implementation; Close block-level signoff across EM, IR drop, RC extraction and correlation, and physical verification (DRC, LVS, antenna); Generate abstracts, views, and timing budgets for clean hierarchical integration of your blocks into the top level; Collaborate with RTL Designers and provide Physical Design feedback to improve PPA; Continuously improve the PPA of owned blocks and contribute learnings back into the shared RTL-to-GDSII flow; Supervise physical design work outsourced to 3rd party services and be accountable for the quality and closure of delivered blocks

Requirements

5-10+ years of previous experience with PD; Tools, flow, and design methodology from RTL synthesis to GDSII sign-off; Experience with back-end design and timing closure on advanced process nodes (5nm and below); Experience with Cadence (Innovus, Genus) or Synopsys (Fusion Compiler) automated RTL-to-GDSII flows; Experience with sign-off tools (PrimeTime, Tempus, Voltus, etc.); Experience with UPF-based low power design methodology, power verification, synthesis, scan insertion/ATPG, formal verification, floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, IR drop, and EM/antenna analysis; Scripting ability in Tcl, Python, or Perl for flow automation and debug; Deeply creative and able to think from first principles

Nice to have

Familiarity with modern ML and LLM model architectures; Ability to program with Python or another scripting language; Familiarity with AI tools for programming/coding; Startup experience or comfort working in fast-paced environments

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage; $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits; Housing subsidy of $2k per month for those living within walking distance of the office; Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row); Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more; Daily lunch and dinner in our office; Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification