Junior Physical Design Engineer - MCU

Location: Catania, Italy

Salary: €31,200–€43,000 gross annual base salary

Company

hirify.global develops industrial and IoT edge-processing solutions, including microcontrollers and high-performance processors for autonomous homes, industrial automation, and personal electronics.

What you will do

• Support the RTL-to-GDSII physical implementation flow for complex SoC and MCU designs on advanced nodes.
• Assist with floorplanning, power-grid design, I/O placement, place-and-route, clock-tree synthesis, and physical verification.
• Perform tool setup, static timing analysis, timing-constraint management, IR-drop analysis, and electromigration analysis.
• Collaborate with RTL, DFT, and analog design teams on design handoffs and integration.
• Maintain and extend TCL, Python, and Perl automation scripts to improve flow efficiency and design analysis.
• Apply EDA tools and work with vendors to troubleshoot implementation issues.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or a related field.
• Understanding of digital design principles, semiconductor physics, integrated-circuit fundamentals, and the IC design flow from RTL to GDSII.
• Knowledge of setup and hold timing, clock distribution, and low-power fundamentals such as clock gating.
• Basic scripting knowledge in TCL, Python, and/or Perl.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills are required.
• Analytical, structured, detail-oriented, collaborative, and eager to learn microelectronics and hardware development.

Nice to have

• Internship, thesis, or hands-on project experience in physical design, implementation, or VLSI design.
• Familiarity with Synopsys Fusion Compiler, ICC2, Formality, or Cadence Innovus and Genus.
• Exposure to Ansys RedHawk or Cadence Voltus for IR-drop analysis.
• Knowledge of UPF/CPF low-power techniques or full-custom layout fundamentals.
• Exposure to AI/ML applications in EDA or microcontrollers.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to join a new Catania engineering team working across analog and SoC digital design.
• Collaboration with experienced engineers and international teams.
• Work on high-impact MCU products for intelligent AI at the Edge.
• Compensation follows the applicable Italian Metalworking Industry National Collective Labour Agreement.
• Additional compensation may include annual incentives, equity, and benefits.