Principal Product Engineer — Digital & Signoff Group (DSG)

Job Title

Principal Product Engineer — Digital & Signoff Group (DSG)

Role Summary

Act as the technical bridge between R&D, application engineering, and customers to drive physical-design and signoff capabilities for advanced-node ASIC flows. The role focuses on place-and-route, timing closure, PPA optimization, and developing RTL-to-GDSII methodologies used by internal teams and external customers.

Experience Level

Senior role.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include technical leadership, tool validation, customer support, and flow development:

• Serve as the primary place-and-route (P&R) technical expert for internal teams and external customers.
• Collaborate with R&D to identify, diagnose, and resolve tool and flow issues through the release cycle.
• Run competitive and internal design benchmarks to measure and demonstrate Power, Performance, and Area (PPA).
• Develop and deploy RTL-to-GDSII methodologies, scripts, and flows to meet customer design goals.
• Work with Product Marketing and stakeholders to align technical capabilities to market needs and customer roadmaps.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• Deep understanding of the full ASIC design flow with emphasis on physical design and timing analysis.
• Hands-on experience with timing closure and PPA optimization at advanced nodes (7nm, 5nm or below).
• Familiarity with industry-standard EDA tools for synthesis, placement, routing, and signoff.
• Proficiency in scripting languages such as Tcl, Python, or Perl.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to translate complex technical issues into solutions.
• Nice-to-have: familiarity with AI-driven productivity tools and experience executing customer design deployments.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's in Electronics Engineering (EE) with 6+ years of industry experience, or Master's in Electronics Engineering (EE) with 4+ years of digital implementation 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.