Principal Engineer, ASIC Physical Design

Ayar Labs

Ayar Labs

Design

San Jose, CA, USA

Posted on Nov 18, 2025
Position: Principal Engineer, ASIC Physical Design
Location: San Jose, CA
Job Id: 491
# of Openings: 0
Principal Engineer, ASIC Physical Design

Location: San Jose (on-site)

The ASIC Physical Design Engineer is responsible for the physical design and integration of complex SoCs with custom circuits, digital circuits, and photonics components as part of a high-speed electro-optical engine. The position focuses on the synthesis,​ place and route, timing closure, and physical verification steps of the design implementation process. As a Principal Engineer, the candidate is expected to take on full end-to-end responsibility for the implementation of complex blocks integrating both high-speed digital and custom blocks in leading edge process nodes. Each physical design engineer is expected to coordinate and drive activities across multiple design domains to ensure signoff design quality and timely design execution.


Key Responsibilities:
  • Physical design of blocks containing digital and custom analog / mixed-signal blocks
  • Contribute to design for test (DFT) methodologies
  • Contribute to automated design methodologies for ASIC physical design
  • Perform ASIC physical design (synthesis, place-and-route), static timing analysis (STA), and physical verification (DRC/LVS) of mixed-signal SoCs
  • Coordinate and drive activities across multiple designers
  • Contribute across a broad range of CAD methodologies to improve design implementation flows

Basic Qualifications:
  • BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields
  • 10+ years of work experience in ASIC physical design
  • History of leading successful block implementations integrating custom IP in leading edge process nodes
  • Proficient in Verilog RTL
  • Mastery of ASIC synthesis (RTL Compiler, Genus, Design Compiler), place-and-route (Encounter, Innovus, ICC), and physical verification (DRC, LVS) tools and flows
  • Mastery of timing constraints and deep understanding of static timing analysis
  • Proficient in clock tree synthesis methodologies and customization
  • Proficient in designing DFT methodologies and flows such as scan insertion, BIST, ATPG, etc.
  • Proficient in ASIC signoff methodologies, checklists, and requirements
  • Proficient in scripting or programming languages

Preferred Qualifications:
  • Working knowledge of the Cadence Virtuoso design environment for manual schematic entry and layout
  • Programming experience in Python
  • Experience with 3DIC implementation methodologies and custom tool flows
  • Knowledge of high-speed SerDes or SerDes components
  • Experience working in conjunction with external ASIC services providers
  • Performed silicon debug and triage of physical design-related issues
Salary range: $180,000 - $240,000
NOTE TO RECRUITERS:
Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don’t send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.
About Ayar Labs:
At Ayar Labs we’re about to revolutionize computing by moving data with light. We’re unleashing processing power for artificial intelligence, high performance computing, cloud and telecommunications by removing the bottlenecks created by today’s electrical I/O -- making it possible to continue scaling computing system performance. Ayar Labs is the first to deliver an optical I/O solution that combines in-package optical I/O chiplets and multi-wavelength remote light sources to replace traditional electrical I/O. This silicon photonics-based I/O solution enables chips to communicate with each other from millimeters to kilometers, to deliver orders of magnitude improvements in latency, bandwidth density, and power consumption.

With our strong collaborations with industry leaders and government, our deep ties to MIT and UC Berkeley, and our commitment to hiring the best engineers in photonics and electronics, joining our team gives you the opportunity to collaborate with renowned experts on challenging, paradigm-shifting work.

We are passionate about delivering in-package optical I/O at scale, leveraging the strength of our patent portfolio and our team of leading interdisciplinary experts. We believe that deep cross-collaboration between teams facilitated by honest, open debate is the best way to drive innovation and achieve big wins. Join our team and experience the possibilities.

Resources:
Ayar Labs is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and is strongly committed to all policies which will afford equal opportunity employment to all qualified persons without regard to age, sex, national origin, race, color, ethnicity, creed, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. It is the policy of Ayar Labs to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship. Veterans are more than welcome and encouraged to apply.
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