Physical Design / CAD Engineer

Physical Design/CAD Engineer

San Jose, California, United States

Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.

As an Astera Labs Physical Design/CAD Engineer you will play a crucial role in driving the planning, coordination, and execution supporting the design of Astera Labs' portfolio of connectivity ASICs used in the world's leading cloud service providers, server and network OEMs. This role requires RTL to GDS ownership across design stages (Synthesis/PnR/STA/Signoff), deep technical expertise, and close collaboration with RTL and verification teams to ensure robust full-chip signoff. This role is fully on-site and in-person.

Key Responsibilities

• As Physical Design CAD Engineer you will support and build flows for world class EDA tools.
• Drive various Physical Design flow related activities, ensuring robust signoff across complex SoCs or sub-systems.
• Architect and recommend flow improvements and enhance existing methodology for high performance design.
• Good understanding of flow development related to backend tools like Synthesis/PnR/Extraction/DRC/LVS etc.
• Work with cross function teams to define requirements and specifications to achieve best PPA
• Opportunity to own a small block partition and closure (PnR, STA, DRC and LVS etc) based on interest and capacity
• Partner closely with design, implementation, and verification teams to drive block/top convergence, providing sign-off level expertise and guidance.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science required; Master’s preferred.
• 2- 8 years of experience in PnR and sign-off for complex SoCs in Server, Storage, or Networking applications.

• Expertise in PnR, Extraction, Timing closure, EM-IR, Formality and DRC/LVS at both block and full-chip level.
• Strong knowledge of synthesis, place-and-route, extraction, and equivalence checking flows in advanced nodes (7nm or below).
• Proficiency with Cadence and/or Synopsys physical design/STA toolchains.
• Strong scripting ability (Tcl, Python, Perl).
• Ability to work independently with strong prioritization and a professional, customer-focused mindset.

Preferred Experience

• Knowledge of agentic AI solutions is a plus.
• Experience working with EDA/IP vendors for both RTL and hard-macro integration.
• Familiarity with high-speed SERDES and Ethernet PHY timing challenges.
• Knowledge of ECO methodologies, DFT tools, and test coverage analysis.