Sr. Principal Product Engineer – Digital & Signoff Group (DSG)

Job Title

Sr. Principal Product Engineer – Digital & Signoff Group (DSG)

Role Summary

Senior product engineering role in Cadence's Digital & Signoff Group (DSG). Acts as the technical bridge among R&D, application engineering, and customers to advance physical design and signoff tools for advanced nodes.

Primary mission: drive tool robustness and methodology development for RTL-to-GDSII flows, support customer integrations, and influence product direction for timing closure and PPA at advanced process nodes.

Experience Level

Senior. The posting specifies senior-level experience with multi-year hands-on implementation and product engineering responsibilities; see Education Requirements for explicit years tied to degree level.

Responsibilities

Deliver technical leadership across internal teams and customer engagements; develop methodologies and validate tool performance for advanced-node designs.

• Serve as primary place-and-route (P&R) and signoff technical expert for R&D and customers.
• Collaborate with R&D to diagnose, track, and resolve software and toolflow issues to ensure robust releases.
• Execute competitive benchmarks and analyses to demonstrate Power, Performance, and Area (PPA) advantages.
• Develop and deploy RTL-to-GDSII methodologies, flows, and automation scripts tailored to customer designs.
• Support customers with integration, debug, and timing-closure strategies at advanced nodes.
• Work with Product Marketing and product management to align technical capabilities with market needs and roadmaps.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience relevant to digital implementation, physical design, and EDA tools.

• Deep knowledge of the full ASIC design flow (RTL-to-GDSII) with emphasis on physical design and timing analysis.
• Proven hands-on experience with timing closure and PPA optimization at 7nm, 5nm, or smaller process nodes.
• Strong familiarity with industry-standard EDA tools for synthesis, placement, routing, and signoff.
• Proficiency in scripting (Tcl, Python, or Perl) to build and automate flows; experience with AI-driven productivity tools is a plus.
• Ability to create and run meaningful design benchmarks and interpret results for engineering and product teams.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for translating technical issues into actionable solutions for customers and internal teams.

Education Requirements

Bachelors in Electronics Engineering (EE) with 8+ years of industry experience, OR Masters in Electronics Engineering (EE) with 6+ 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.