Lead Physical Design Engineer (AI Chips)

Location: Bristol, United Kingdom

Company

hirify.global develops chips and systems designed to accelerate inference for frontier AI models, targeting high-speed generation and long-context workloads.

What you will do

• Drive end-to-end physical implementation of ASIC and SoC designs, including floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, and sign-off.
• Lead full-chip execution, block ownership, physical design teams, or broader chip-level activities according to project needs.
• Perform synthesis, static timing analysis, timing closure, and PPA optimisation.
• Own power planning and analysis, including IR drop and electromigration mitigation.
• Ensure DRC, LVS, formal verification, and other physical verification requirements are met.
• Collaborate with RTL, architecture, verification, DFT, and process technology teams while improving EDA flows and mentoring engineers.

Requirements

• 10+ years of physical design experience for advanced technology nodes such as 7nm, 5nm, or below.
• Strong proficiency with EDA tools for place and route, STA, and sign-off, including Cadence Innovus, Synopsys Fusion Compiler, or Mentor Graphics Calibre.
• Strong understanding of CMOS technology, semiconductor physics, process limitations, timing closure, signal integrity, IR drop analysis, and formal verification.
• Proficiency in TCL, Perl, or Python for automation.
• Proven ability to own complex designs, lead physical design efforts, mentor engineers, and drive projects to completion.
• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.

Nice to have

• Experience with HPC, AI accelerators, or networking chips.
• Experience or strong interest in using advanced AI tools and models in engineering workflows.

Culture & Benefits

• High ownership and autonomy in driving work forward.
• Rapid iteration and direct collaboration with top leadership.
• Full-stack collaboration across hardware, software, silicon, and modelling teams.
• Meaningful equity and ownership participation.
• Private medical, dental and vision coverage, contributory pension, 25 days of holiday plus bank holidays, and life and critical illness insurance.
• Inclusive office environment with a focus on diverse perspectives and teamwork.