Software R&D Engineer, VLSI Physical Design - New College Grad 2026

Job Title

Software R&D Engineer, VLSI Physical Design - New College Grad 2026

Role Summary

Develop research and production software for VLSI physical design: invent and implement optimization engines (sizing, buffering, CTS, legalization, incremental P&R, etc.) and improve algorithms used across internal design flows. The role works within a tool-development team that collaborates directly with chip-design teams to deploy solutions.

Work will influence AI hardware performance by improving performance, power, and area (PPA) through algorithmic and software advances.

Experience Level

Entry-level (new college graduate, 2026). Specific years of industry experience not required; candidates are expected to have demonstrated relevant project or research experience.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include:

• Invent and prototype new optimization engines that combine traditionally separate physical-design steps (for example, co-optimizing legalization and sizing) to improve frequency and reduce power.
• Design, implement, and optimize C++ algorithms for gate-level sizing, buffering, useful clock skew, cell legalization, power minimization, ECO routing, and incremental parasitic extraction.
• Integrate algorithms into internal toolchains and collaborate directly with design teams to validate and deploy solutions on real designs.
• Profile and improve software performance for high-capacity designs, including multithreading, memory and I/O efficiency, and distributed execution where applicable.
• Participate in discovery, experimentation, and iterative refinement from research through production release.

Requirements

Must-have skills and experience:

• Experience developing VLSI algorithms using C++ (production-quality code and algorithm implementation).
• Solid understanding of VLSI timing optimization and related concepts (cell libraries, interconnect models, crosstalk, glitches, IR drop, timing constraints, corners, congestion).
• Familiarity with physical-design and implementation tools and flows (examples: ICC2, Innovus, PrimeTime, Tempus, StarRC) and scripting in Perl, Tcl, or Python.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with modern C++ (C++14+) features, concurrency, and lambda usage.
• Experience designing high-performance software: multithreading, distributed computing, efficient memory and I/O.
• Knowledge of how multiple physical-design steps interact and experience fusing steps into hybrid engines for improved PPA.
• Experience applying machine learning (reinforcement learning, GNNs) to physical design problems.

Education Requirements

Masters or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science (or equivalent practical experience) was specified. Equivalent practical experience is acceptable in place of the listed degrees.

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.