Lead physical design engineer

Lead Physical Design Engineer

Company: Siliconus Technologies Private Limited

Location: Bengaluru

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience:7–15 Years

Job Summary

Siliconus Technologies is looking for an experienced Lead Physical Design Engineer to lead and manage Physical Design activities across block-level and full-chip projects.

The ideal candidate should have strong hands-on expertise in the RTL-to-GDSII flow, excellent technical leadership skills, and the ability to independently drive PPA optimization, timing closure, physical signoff, project execution, and customer interactions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end Physical Design flow from netlist to GDSII.

• Own project execution and technical delivery for assigned blocks/projects.

• Lead floorplanning, power planning, placement, CTS, routing, optimization, and signoff activities.

• Drive setup and hold timing closure across multiple modes and corners.

• Perform and review MCMM STA analysis and resolve timing issues.

• Drive PPA optimization across performance, power, and area targets.

• Analyze and resolve congestion, transition, capacitance, fanout, DRC, and routing violations.

• Drive IR Drop, EM, Signal Integrity, Crosstalk, DRC/LVS, and physical signoff activities.

• Lead ECO implementation and timing optimization.

• Work closely with RTL, Synthesis, STA, DFT, PV, and Foundry teams to resolve technical issues.

• Drive block integration and full-chip implementation activities.

• Own tapeout readiness and ensure all signoff criteria are met.

• Provide technical direction, mentoring, and guidance to junior and mid-level Physical Design engineers.

• Review team deliverables and ensure adherence to project methodologies and quality standards.

• Plan task allocation, track project progress, and ensure deliverables are completed within timelines.

• Identify technical risks and proactively develop solutions to avoid project delays.

• Participate in customer meetings, technical discussions, status calls, and project reviews.

• Support estimation, resource planning, and technical proposals for new projects.

• Develop and improve Physical Design methodologies and automation flows.

• Use Tcl, Perl, Python, and Shell scripting for flow automation and productivity improvements.

Required Technical Skills

• Strong hands-on experience in the complete RTL-to-GDSII Physical Design flow.

• Expertise in floorplanning, power planning, placement and optimization, CTS, routing, post-route optimization, STA, timing closure, ECO, physical verification, and signoff.

• Strong understanding of MCMM, setup/hold, OCV/AOCV/POCV, and timing constraints.

• Good knowledge of IR Drop, EM, Signal Integrity, and Crosstalk.

• Strong understanding of DRC, LVS, Antenna, and other physical signoff checks.

• Strong experience with Tcl scripting; Perl/Python/Shell is an added advantage.

• Hands-on experience with Cadence Innovus/Tempus and/or Synopsys ICC2/Fusion Compiler/PrimeTime.

• Experience with advanced technology nodes such as 28nm, 16nm, 14nm, 7nm, and below is preferred.

• Strong understanding of PPA optimization and design convergence.

Leadership & Management Skills

• Ability to lead a Physical Design team and take complete technical ownership.

• Ability to distribute tasks and track team progress effectively.

• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.

• Ability to review and technically mentor team members.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to interact confidently with customers and cross-functional teams.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver projects within committed timelines.

• Capable of independently driving a project from implementation through tapeout.

Qualifications

• B.E./B.Tech/M.E./M.Tech in Electronics, Electrical, ECE, VLSI, or related engineering discipline.

•7–15 years of relevant Physical Design experience.

• Proven experience leading Physical Design teams/projects.

• Strong block-level and/or full-chip implementation experience.

• Multiple tapeout experience is highly preferred.

Preferred Experience

• Experience working with global semiconductor customers.

• Experience with advanced-node SoC designs.

• Exposure to low-power implementation/UPF.

• Experience in full-chip integration and signoff.

• Strong experience in PPA optimization and timing convergence.

• Experience handling technical escalations and customer issues.

• Experience in building and improving Physical Design methodologies.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to lead advanced semiconductor and SoC projects.

• Exposure to multiple technology nodes and industry-standard EDA tools.

• Opportunity to work on end-to-end RTL-to-GDSII and tapeout projects.

• Technical and leadership growth opportunities.

• Collaborative and engineering-driven work environment.

Join Siliconus Technologies and lead the next generation of semiconductor Physical Design solutions.