Physical Design Engineer - Block Level, Subsystem Implementation

Etched is hiring a Physical Design Engineer - Block Level, Subsystem Implementation in San Jose, United States. It pays $200k-$300k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Etched.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions Innovus, Genus and Primetime among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a senior role.
Etched has 114 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Own block-level physical design and PPA optimization for Etched's specialized AI inference chips.

InnovusGenusPrimetimeTempusVoltus

physical-designtiming-closuresynthesisasichardware

About Etched

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence. We co-design chips, racks, software, and manufacturing to deliver best-in-class throughput and latency across both prefill and decode workloads. Our first products are heavily focused on inference. 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 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.

Key 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.

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 (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

Strong candidates may also have experience with

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 $2.5k 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

How we’re different

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We are the first inference-focused frontier AI system. Our addressable market is the entirety of inference, unlike many of our competitors.

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 and work across disciplines as needed.

How we rate this

Physical Design Engineer - Block Level, Subsystem Implementation at Etched rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Physical Design Engineer - Block Level, Subsystem Implementation is an open job at Etched.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $200k-$300k a year.
The role is based in San Jose.
The job was posted on July 23, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by Etched. Apply on Etched

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Physical DesignTiming ClosureSynthesisAsicHardwareInnovusGenusPrimetime

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where physical design was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where timing closure was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where synthesis was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where asic was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where hardware was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Physical Design, Timing Closure, Synthesis, Asic, and Hardware. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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