Physical Design Lead

The role

You will lead the physical design team through the end-to-end silicon realization path. This includes driving the full backend implementation flow from synthesis to GDSII tapeout.

What you will do

• Provide leadership of the PD team including hiring, guidance, and performance feedback
• Create work estimates and schedule to support an aggressive tapeout plan
• Specify and help negotiate the appropriate EDA tools
• Collaborate with RTL, architecture, and DFT teams to influence floorplanning and physical feasibility
• Lead the full netlist-to-GDSII physical design flow
• Own static timing analysis, timing constraints, and signoff timing closure
• Drive physical optimization for power, performance, and area
• Execute full chip/block physical signoff checks
• Create and execute tapeout checklists and manage final stream-out processes
• Support post-silicon physical debugging and bring-up

Required qualifications

• Lead at least 3+ successful tapeouts from netlist to signoff
• Deep hands-on experience with industry-standard physical design tools (e.g., Innovus, IC Compiler II, Tempus, PrimeTime, Pegasus, Calibre)
• Strong problem-solving skills in analyzing and resolving STA timing bottlenecks, IR/EM drop issues, crosstalk, and complex DRC/LVS signoff violations
• Ability to collaborate effectively with RTL, architecture, and DFT teams
• At least 7 years experience in role

Nice to have

• Experience at an AI or high-performance compute (HPC) chip startup where design, verification, and PD work in tight iteration cycles
• Experience with custom memory/macro floorplanning, hierarchical top-level implementation, or advanced packaging (e.g., chiplets, 2.5D/3D integration)
• Hands-on experience developing or maintaining automated TCL/Python scripting frameworks for physical design flows

About the company

Normal is an applied AI company solving the hardest problems in AI and silicon. They build foundational hardware and software for the semiconductor industry, critical AI infrastructure, and the broader systems that power our world.