Director of Physical Design

The role

The Director of Physical Design will lead and scale the physical implementation organization for next-generation, ultra-low-power microcontroller products. This role drives the physical design roadmap and guides a multidisciplinary team across design methodology, physical implementation, and sign-off.

What you will do

• Define and execute the physical design strategy for low-power MCU product lines.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing global physical design team.
• Establish best-in-class methodologies for low-power, high-reliability physical implementation.
• Drive continuous improvement in design flows, automation, and signoff quality.
• Oversee full-chip and block-level physical design including floorplanning, power planning, CTS, P&R, timing closure, physical verification, EM/IR, and power analysis.
• Partner with architecture and RTL teams to influence early design decisions.
• Work with analog/mixed-signal teams to integrate mixed-signal IP into SoCs.
• Collaborate with product engineering and operations to ensure manufacturability and yield.
• Interface with foundries to align on technology capabilities, PDK updates, and design rules.
• Own physical design schedules, resource planning, and risk management.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years of experience in physical design for complex SoCs.
• At least 5 years in leadership roles.
• Proven track record of delivering multiple chips to production.
• Deep expertise in low power design techniques (UPF, clock gating, multi-Vt, power gating, DVFS, retention, etc.).
• Deep expertise in physical design tools (Synopsys, Cadence, Mentor).
• Deep expertise in advanced process nodes (40nm to 22nm to 12nm and below).
• Strong understanding of MCU architectures and embedded system constraints.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Nice to have

• Experience with mixed-signal SoCs and integration of analog IP.
• Background in high-volume consumer or industrial MCU products.
• Familiarity with security-focused or safety-certified MCU designs (e.g., ISO 26262).
• Experience building and scaling distributed engineering teams.

Before you apply

• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer.

About the company

Ambiq is on a mission to enable intelligence everywhere by powering the AI edge revolution with low-power semiconductor solutions. Since 2010, they have shipped over 300 million units to customers building wearables, medical devices, IoT products, and AI-powered edge applications.