Principal Product Engineer

Job Title

Principal Product Engineer

Role Summary

Principal Product Engineer in the Digital and Signoff Group (DSG) working on performance, power, and area (PPA) improvement for advanced chip designs. The role partners with R&D and customer engagement teams to influence place-and-route tool features and resolve customer design issues.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 7–12 years of relevant EDA or physical design experience.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include improving PPA on customer designs, debugging physical-design issues, and coordinating with internal teams and customers.

• Lead PPA improvement efforts on critical customer designs and manage benchmark suites.
• Apply and troubleshoot the full physical design flow from netlist to GDSII (floorplanning, power planning, placement, CTS/clock tree synthesis, routing).
• Perform timing analysis and optimization; resolve timing violations and congestion.
• Debug power, routing, and DRC issues and identify root causes.
• Communicate technical status and results to customers and internal stakeholders.
• Coordinate with R&D to analyze results, propose follow-ups, and influence tool development (Innovus or similar).
• Manage multiple concurrent issues across teams and projects.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience are listed first; nice-to-have items follow.

• Must-have: 7+ years (7–12 preferred) in EDA or physical design roles focused on PPA and place-and-route.
• Must-have: Strong knowledge of physical design flow: floorplanning, power planning, placement, CTS, routing, and GDSII.
• Must-have: Solid timing analysis and optimization skills; strong debugging capability for timing, congestion, power, routing, and DRC.
• Must-have: Experience on advanced process nodes (7nm and below).
• Must-have: Customer-facing experience with benchmark management and technical communication.
• Must-have: Ability to multitask and collaborate across R&D and support teams.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with 3nm or 2nm technologies.
• Nice-to-have: Familiarity with Innovus or equivalent place-and-route tools.

Education Requirements

BE/BTech/ME/MS/MTech or equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: Cadence Design Systems

Headquarters: San Jose, California, USA

Cadence Design Systems is a global electronic design automation company that provides software, hardware, and intellectual property for designing advanced semiconductor chips. With over 25 years in the industry, Cadence is known for its innovative technology solutions and has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The company is dedicated to solving complex technical challenges in order to enable customers to create revolutionary products and experiences.