Senior Physical Design Engineer

We are looking for a Senior Physical Design Engineer to join a growing engineering team in Ottawa. In this role you would take ownership of backend implementation from netlist through to GDSII across challenging ASIC blocks and sub-systems.

You will work with advanced physical design flows and single-digit FinFET technology nodes, collaborating with an experienced engineering team to deliver complex designs through to successful closure.

This is a fully remote senior-level position, open to candidates based anywhere.

Key Responsibilities

• Own place & route implementation and analyze physical design results.

• Develop effective floorplans to support physically-aware synthesis.

• Drive designs through timing closure and physical verification.

• Debug issues across EDA tools, timing constraints, DFT, and RTL/design implementation.

• Work closely with front-end design teams to improve RTL quality and implementation efficiency.

• Implement timing ECOs and optimize designs for performance.

• Run PrimeTime and analyze timing reports.

• Develop strategies to optimize power, performance, and area (PPA).

• Perform IR-drop analysis and implement optimization strategies.

• Collaborate with analog, front-end, and other physical design teams to align implementation objectives.

   

Key Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in ASIC digital physical design / place & route.

• Strong hands-on experience with leading Synopsys and Cadence EDA tools and flows.

• Experience working with advanced FinFET technology nodes, including DRC rules and node-specific P&R requirements.

• Strong practical experience in floorplanning and physical implementation.

• Solid understanding of Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS) and clock design for timing closure.

• Experience with IR-drop analysis and optimization.

• Strong background in timing closure and ECO implementation; PT-ECO or Tweaker experience is a plus.

• Strong scripting and automation skills.

• Experience with several of the following: synthesis, StarRC, PrimeTime DMSA, RedHawk, Calibre, LEC, or Formality.

• A self-motivated, proactive approach with the ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a collaborative engineering team.