Physical Design Engineer
Company: Etched
Location: San Jose
Posted on: April 1, 2026
|
|
|
Job Description:
About Etched Etched is building the world’s first AI inference
system purpose-built for transformers - delivering over 10x higher
performance and dramatically lower cost and latency than a B200.
With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible
with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely
deep & parallel chain-of-thought reasoning agents. Backed by
hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading
engineers, Etched is redefining the infrastructure layer for the
fastest growing industry in history. Job Summary Etched is looking
for exceptional Physical Design engineers to join our team. In this
role, you will own block-level implementation and verification,
drive timing closure and PPA optimization, supervise 3rd party
design work, and help improve our design flows and iteration speed.
Key Responsibilities Deeply understand what is involved in physical
design Running PD flows to close blocks, support ASIC
infrastructure, automate PD flows, improve CAD infrastructure
Collaborate with RTL Designers and provide Physical Design feedback
to improve PPA Drive dashboards that show the convergence of
projects related to PD Optimize tool flows, working with EDA
vendors to incorporate the latest features Accountable for block
level closure Supervise the outsourcing of physical design to a 3rd
party service You may be a good fit if you have 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 (ICC2, 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 Deeply creative and able
to think from first principles Strong candidates may also have
experience with Familiarity with transformer models and machine
learning 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 dinner in our office How we’re different: Etched
believes in the Bitter Lesson . We think most of the progress in
the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run
models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build
model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage
companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which
creates a market for single-model ASICs. We are a fully in-person
team in San Jose (Santana Row), and greatly value engineering
skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research,
and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both as
needed.
Keywords: Etched, West Sacramento , Physical Design Engineer, Engineering , San Jose, California
