Principal Physical Design Engineer

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.
About the Role
We are seeking a Senior Physical Design Engineer to join our high-performance design team working on next-generation transceiver IPs targeting the TSMC 3nm and advanced technology nodes
Key Responsibilities
Perform block-level and top-level physical implementation including floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, and physical verification for high-speed designs in advanced technology nodes.
Collaborate with RTL and STA teams to ensure clean handoffs and support timing, area, and power convergence.
Apply advanced physical design techniques to support multiple voltage and frequency domains, hierarchical design, and physical-aware synthesis.
Work on key physical design areas including:
EM/IR analysis and power grid optimization
Congestion analysis and mitigation
Clock skew optimization and clock quality improvement
RC extraction-aware placement and routing
Integrate IPs and top-level blocks with attention to physical interfaces, constraints, and timing alignment.
Support floorplan development and chip partitioning for high-speed transceiver designs.
Perform ECO implementation and assist with tapeout signoff activities.
Ensure DRC, LVS, ANT, CELL, and ERC clean databases using industry-standard physical verification tools.
Use industry-standard tools such as ICC2, Innovus, Voltus, RedHawk, and Calibre for implementation and signoff.
Develop and maintain automation scripts in Tcl, Python, or Perl to improve physical design flows and productivity.
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, or a related field.
5-10 years of experience in physical design, preferably with advanced technology nodes.
Strong experience with:
Floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, and IR drop mitigation
Signoff checks such as DRC, LVS, ANT, and ERC, along with debugging
Timing closure support in collaboration with STA teams
Hands-on use of tools such as Synopsys ICC2, Cadence Innovus, Calibre, and Voltus
Experience integrating high-speed IPs such as SerDes or PHYs into SoC or chiplet-based environments.
Experience working on high-frequency datapath and DSP-related designs.
Solid scripting skills for automation and productivity enhancement.
Good problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.