Senior Software R&D Engineer, VLSI Physical Design

Details

NVIDIA's success builds on industry-leading hardware and a suite of highly optimized internal EDA tools. The team develops software that fuses advances in parallel computing, machine learning, and specialized algorithms for VLSI design. This role focuses on developing high-capacity, high-performance optimization engines and algorithms for VLSI physical design and working directly with design teams to deploy those solutions.

Responsibilities

• Invent new optimization engines that fuse traditionally independent engines (for example, co-optimization of legalization and sizing) with the objective of increasing chip frequency while minimizing power consumption across internal optimization tools.
• Improve and implement algorithms (in C++) for gate-level sizing, buffering, useful clock skew, cell legalization, power minimization, ECO routing, and incremental parasitic extraction.
• Own the full process from discovery and invention of new optimization opportunities to developing solutions and working with design teams for deployment.
• Work across technical areas including algorithm design, software engineering, performance optimization, and integration into production design flows.

Requirements

• BS, MS, PhD, or equivalent experience in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science.
• 10+ years of experience in VLSI algorithms development using C++.
• Strong understanding of VLSI timing optimization and related concepts (cell libraries, interconnect models, crosstalk, glitches, IR drop, timing constraints, corners, congestion, etc.).
• Familiarity with design implementation and signoff tools such as ICC2, Innovus, PrimeTime, Tempus, and StarRC.
• Experience with typical design flow scripting and automation in Perl, Tcl, and Python.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Preferred / Ways to stand out

• Experience with modern C++ (C++14 or newer), including lambdas and concurrency.
• Detailed understanding of interactions between multiple Physical Design steps and how they can be fused into hybrid engines for improved PPA (performance, power, area).
• Experience in high-performance software design: multithreading, distributed computing, efficient memory and I/O usage.
• Highly driven to craft outstanding software and continuously improve PPA.
• Experience applying machine learning techniques to physical design, including reinforcement learning and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs).

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary ranges (dependent on level and location):
  • Level 4: 168,000 USD - 264,500 USD
  • Level 5: 196,000 USD - 310,500 USD
• You will also be eligible for equity and benefits (see NVIDIA benefits page).

Additional information

• Applications accepted at least until July 29, 2025.
• NVIDIA is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse work environment.