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Jobs · Engineering · California

AI-Driven ASIC Physical Design Principal Engineer

Cisco · San Jose, CA · 3 wk ago
Engineering$251k–$363k/yrFull-time

About the Team

The Common Hardware Group (CHG) creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco’s core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms—like Silicon One—are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development—from design to qualification to production—is within our team, we’re able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly.

Your Impact

  • Collaborate with physical design teams to identify high-value automation targets: timing triage, congestion root-cause analysis, floorplan suggestions.
  • Evaluate and benchmark LLM-generated outputs against ground truth for Design QoR, timing impact, and sign-off compliance.
  • Own the full developer loop: prototype → eval → production — with a focus on measurable design cycle reduction.
  • Build agentic PnR workflows where Claude iterates autonomously on placement, routing, and timing constraints based on tool feedback loops.
  • Create RAG pipelines that index internal PDKs, design rule documents, sign-off checklists, and runbooks for Claude to reference.
  • Write and maintain Tcl bridge scripts that translate Claude's suggested fixes into executable EDA tool commands.
  • Develop prompt architectures that accurately interpret STA timing reports, DRC logs, congestion maps, and power analysis outputs.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and 15+ years of ASIC-related experience, or Master’s degree in Engineering and 12+ years of ASIC-related experience, or PhD in Engineering and 7+ years of ASIC-related experience.
  • Experience with Python and effectively leveraging AI tools through accurate prompting to enhance productivity.
  • Experience designing and building an MCP-based wrapper layer connecting Claude to live EDA tools (Innovus, ICC2, Calibre) for real-time copilot interactions.
  • Experience developing EDA copilots or AI-assisted design tools, along with experience in Docker and containerized EDA environments.
  • Experience with machine learning-driven placement and routing (MLPD / ML-driven PnR), and OpenAI APIs (e.g., GPT-4o, o3) and vector databases such as Pinecone or Weaviate.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with RTL2GDSII flow and design tapeouts in 7nm/5nm/3nm or below process technologies.
  • Experience working with EDA tools like Innovus, Tempus/Primetime, Redhawk/Voltus, or Calibre/Pegasus.

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era—and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

Pay

The starting salary range for this position is $250,600.00 to $362,600.00 for new hires in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. Below are the full salary ranges for specific locations:

  • New York City Metro Area: $250,600.00 - $416,900.00
  • Non-Metro New York State & Washington State: $241,400.00 - $371,000.00

For quota-based sales roles, the ranges include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
  • 401(k) plan with Cisco matching contribution.
  • Paid parental leave, short- and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance.
  • Restricted stock units (RSUs), which vest following continued employment.
  • Paid time off:
    • 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees.
    • 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday.
    • Paid year-end holiday shutdown.
    • 4 paid days off for personal wellness.
    • Non-exempt employees: 16 days of paid vacation per full calendar year (accrued at 4.92 hours per pay period).
    • Exempt employees: Flexible vacation time off with no defined limit (subject to business limitations).
    • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, with up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward.
    • Additional paid time off for critical or emergency family issues.
    • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer.
  • Annual bonuses for non-sales roles, subject to Cisco’s policies.
  • For sales roles: Performance-based incentive pay split between quota and non-quota components, with no minimum threshold for payout.

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