Implementation CAD Engineer

Job Title

Implementation CAD Engineer

Role Summary

Member of the Global CAD team responsible for RTL-to-GDS implementation flows for Snapdragon SoCs. Develop and maintain synthesis, place-and-route, and formal verification tools and methodologies to improve power, performance, area (PPA) and reduce design cycle time.

Work closely with Implementation and Physical Design teams and with EDA vendors to deliver production-ready flows for advanced process nodes.

Experience Level

Mid-level. Typically 1–4 years of experience in VLSI CAD, implementation, or related roles.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

• Improve synthesis, formal verification, floorplanning, place-and-route methodologies for mobile, compute, AI and IoT SoCs.
• Develop and enable features in EDA and internal tools to meet PPA and turnaround-time targets.
• Support Snapdragon design teams via ticket queues; analyze requests and deliver CAD solutions.
• Interface with EDA vendor application engineers to resolve tool convergence and production issues.
• Create and maintain regression suites for complex synthesis and P&R designs.
• Investigate implementation issues (congestion, legalization, clock trees, always-on feeds) and tune design recipes for area and timing.
• Contribute to R&D initiatives, including AI/ML approaches for design optimization, and to patentable innovations.

Requirements

Must-have and desirable technical skills:

• 1–4 years of hands-on VLSI CAD experience with synthesis, floorplanning, or place-and-route on SoC designs (block and/or top-level).
• Proficiency in scripting and programming (Python and TCL preferred).
• Experience tuning design recipes to meet area, timing, and turnaround objectives across subsystems (modem, GPU, CPU, DDR, camera, video, etc.).
• Experience maintaining regressions and automation for implementation flows.
• Ability to troubleshoot implementation convergence problems and collaborate with EDA vendors.
• Familiarity with advanced foundry process nodes and production flow enablement.
• Nice-to-have: experience with formal verification flows, AI/ML applied to CAD, and prior contributions to patents or methodology innovations.

Education Requirements

Minimum: Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. Preferred: Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.