Physical Design Engineer

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  • Location:
    Yerevan, Armenia
  • Area of Interest
    Engineer - Hardware
  • Job Type
    Professional
  • Technology Interest
    *None
  • Job Id
    1445145
Meet the Team

Step into Cisco's ASIC Physical Design Team, where innovation meets collaboration. As a group of highly skilled engineers, we're redefining what's possible in silicon technology. Our mission is to drive the future of chip design, managing full chip physical implementation from RTL to GDSII and beyond. Working hand-in-hand with Front-End teams, we transform cutting-edge designs into industry-leading silicon solutions. Here, you'll have the opportunity to shape tomorrow's technology, driving advancements in power, performance, and reliability with every project. Together, we're building the foundation for the future of connectivity.

Your Impact

In this role, you'll be at the heart of Cisco's silicon innovation, creating breakthrough solutions that redefine the boundaries of what technology can do. You'll tackle complex challenges at the intersection of hardware and software, enabling the seamless integration of our next-generation silicon designs. Your expertise will influence not just how we build, but how we accelerate the design process to deliver high-impact solutions. Beyond your technical contributions, you'll join a culture that empowers mentorship, celebrates success, and fosters your personal and professional growth. This is your chance to leave your mark on technology that connects and empowers people around the world.

What You'll Do
  • You will be responsible for macro level RTL to gds implementation and signoff.
  • Work with Front-End teams to understand the design architecture to ensure optimal physical implementation.
  • Execute physical design tasks, including gate-level netlist synthesis, floorplanning, placement, Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS), and routing.
  • Optimize designs to achieve industry-leading power, performance, and area (PPA) metrics while maintaining design integrity through formal verification.
  • Conduct Static Timing Analysis (STA), physical verification, formal verification and signoff closure to ensure high-quality results.
  • Analyze and resolve Electromigration (EM) and IR-drop (IR) issues, meeting stringent signoff requirements for reliability and performance.
Minimum Qualifications
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
  • 4+ year minimum of hands-on experience in ASIC design and verification
  • Proven expertise in ASIC physical design and verification.
  • Knowledge of block-level synthesis, place-and-route (PnR), and timing closure.
  • First-hand experience with industry-standard PnR and signoff tools such as Synopsys and Cadence.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Understanding of all aspects of physical design construction, integration, and methodologies.
  • Proficiency in Physical Design Verification, including techniques like LVS and DRC.
  • Experience with physical design EDA tools and workflows.
  • Expertise in Static Timing Analysis (STA), timing closure, and design constraints.
  • Proficiency in scripting languages like Tcl, Python, or Perl, with a focus on automation and efficiency improvements.
#WeAreCisco
#WeAreCisco where every individual brings their unique skills and perspectives together to pursue our purpose of powering an inclusive future for all.
Our passion is connection—we celebrate our employees’ diverse set of backgrounds and focus on unlocking potential. Cisconians often experience one company, many careers where learning and development are encouraged and supported at every stage. Our technology, tools, and culture pioneered hybrid work trends, allowing all to not only give their best, but be their best.
We understand our outstanding opportunity to bring communities together and at the heart of that is our people. One-third of Cisconians collaborate in our 30 employee resource organizations, called Inclusive Communities, to connect, foster belonging, learn to be informed allies, and make a difference. Dedicated paid time off to volunteer—80 hours each year—allows us to give back to causes we are passionate about, and nearly 86% do!
Our purpose, driven by our people, is what makes us the worldwide leader in technology that powers the internet. Helping our customers reimagine their applications, secure their enterprise, transform their infrastructure, and meet their sustainability goals is what we do best. We ensure that every step we take is a step towards a more inclusive future for all. Take your next step and be you, with us!

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Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

When available, the salary range posted for this position reflects the projected hiring range for new hire, full-time salaries in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including equity or benefits. For non-sales roles the hiring ranges reflect base salary only; employees are also eligible to receive annual bonuses. Hiring ranges for sales positions include base and incentive compensation target. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location and additional factors, including but not limited to skillset, experience, and relevant education, certifications, or training. Applicants may not be eligible for the full salary range based on their U.S. or Canada hiring location. The recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees have access to quality medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, short and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance and numerous wellbeing offerings.

Employees receive up to twelve paid holidays per calendar year, which includes one floating holiday (for non-exempt employees), plus a day off for their birthday. Non-Exempt new hires accrue up to 16 days of vacation time off each year, at a rate of 4.92 hours per pay period. Exempt new hires participate in Cisco’s flexible Vacation Time Off policy, which does not place a defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use, but is subject to availability and some business limitations. All new hires are eligible for Sick Time Off subject to Cisco’s Sick Time Off Policy and will have eighty (80) hours of sick time off provided on their hire date and on January 1st of each year thereafter.  Up to 80 hours of unused sick time will be carried forward from one calendar year to the next such that the maximum number of sick time hours an employee may have available is 160 hours. Employees in Illinois have a unique time off program designed specifically with local requirements in mind. All employees also have access to paid time away to deal with critical or emergency issues. We offer additional paid time to volunteer and give back to the community.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

.75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

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