Semiconductor Design Engineer Jobs in Seattle, WA

Seattle became a real chip design town almost by accident. The hyperscalers headquartered in the region decided to build their own silicon, and the design teams followed. Amazon's Annapurna Labs (Graviton CPUs, Trainium and Inferentia AI chips), Microsoft's silicon engineering group (the Maia AI accelerator and Azure network ASICs), and Apple's Seattle design center now anchor a market that barely existed a decade ago.

The work here skews toward high-volume custom compute. Cloud ASIC RTL and verification, AI accelerator microarchitecture, network processor and DPU design: these are the roles that dominate the openings, and the parts you work on ship into data centers by the rack. If you have done pre-silicon verification or datapath RTL on a large program, you'll recognize the cadence.

Because these are internal programs, the flows tend to be modern and well-funded. Expect UVM verification environments, emulation on Palladium or Veloce for full-chip regressions, and physical design signoff in Synopsys ICC2 or Cadence Innovus against aggressive frequency and power targets. Teams run on tight tapeout schedules tied to data center buildouts, so timing closure and power integrity work carries real deadline pressure rather than living in a backlog.

Listings span Bellevue, Redmond, and downtown Seattle, and you can filter by company type, design domain, and experience level. The hyperscaler concentration means the employer mix leans toward in-house teams rather than merchant fabless vendors, though a growing set of AI chip startups now recruits from the same talent pool. For the wider accelerator market, our AI chip design engineer jobs page is a good next stop, and if a physical move isn't in the cards, look at remote and hybrid semiconductor design roles.

Pay is a genuine draw. Washington has no state income tax, and Seattle's cost of living sits below the Bay Area, so a Microsoft or Amazon silicon offer often nets out ahead of a nominally higher San Francisco number. Mid-level ASIC and verification engineers commonly see $150K to $195K base, with staff total comp reaching $300K or more once RSUs vest. The salary guide for semiconductor jobs has the full breakdown, and you can check who else is hiring on our companies roundup.

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FAQ

What hyperscaler chip design teams are based in Seattle

Amazon's Annapurna Labs (Graviton CPU, Trainium, Inferentia), Microsoft's Silicon Engineering Group (Maia AI chip, Azure Boost ASIC), and Google's Seattle TPU team all run significant design operations in the greater Seattle area.

What types of chip design jobs are most available in Seattle

AI accelerator design, cloud ASIC RTL and verification, network processor design, and DPU engineering. The hyperscaler focus tilts the market toward high-performance compute and networking silicon rather than mobile or analog.

Are there semiconductor design startups in Seattle

Yes. Seattle has a growing AI chip startup scene, and the large talent pool at Amazon and Microsoft feeds directly into it. Engineers moving between hyperscalers and startups is common here.