Role Overview

Astera Labs is seeking a Physical Design Engineering Manager to lead a team of physical design engineers at our Toronto site, driving the implementation of connectivity ASICs within our Signal Connectivity Group. This group is responsible for products that enable high-speed serial connectivity including PCIe retimers, Ethernet retimers, and signal conditioning solutions—deployed across the world's largest AI clusters and hyperscale data centers.

As an Physical Design Manager Engineering Manager, you will combine hands-on technical leadership with people management, owning physical design execution from RTL to GDSII while building and mentoring a high-performing team. You will drive floorplanning, place-and-route, timing closure, and sign-off for complex designs requiring deep understanding of high-speed physical layer interfaces and SerDes integration at TSMC advanced nodes. This role is fully on-site at our Toronto location.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field; Master's preferred.
• 12+ years of experience in physical design implementation of complex SoCs at advanced nodes (7nm and below).
• 2+ years of experience leading teams or projects with demonstrated ability to mentor and develop engineers.
• Hands-on expertise across the physical design flow: synthesis, place-and-route, CTS, extraction, timing closure, EM-IR, DRC/LVS, and equivalence checking.
• Proficiency with Cadence Innovus and/or Synopsys Fusion Compiler/ICC2 and supporting toolchains.
• Strong scripting ability in Tcl, Python, and/or Perl.
• Professional attitude with the ability to prioritize a dynamic list of tasks, plan and prepare for customer meetings in advance, and work with minimal guidance.
• Entrepreneurial, open-minded behavior and can-do attitude. Think and act fast with the customer in mind! 

Required Experience

• Build, lead, and mentor a physical design team, owning Physical Design execution and team development for Signal Connectivity Group products.
• Drive block and top-level physical design implementation from floorplan through tapeout for retimer and signal conditioning ASICs.
• Own floorplanning, macro placement, power grid design, clock tree synthesis, and place-and-route for complex blocks and full-chip designs.
• Drive timing closure at both block and full-chip levels, developing and maintaining timing constraints and signoff methodology.
• Ensure DRC/LVS/EM-IR closure and physical verification sign-off to foundry requirements.
• Integrate hard macros, high-speed SerDes, analog IP, and third-party IP blocks, ensuring seamless physical integration at block boundaries.
• Collaborate with RTL, DFT, STA, EMIR, and verification teams to drive design convergence from synthesis through sign-off.
• Work with IP vendors for both RTL and hard-macro integration, ensuring placement constraints and routing guidelines are met.
• Drive team execution, hiring, career development, and sprint planning for the Toronto PD team.
• Establish physical design best practices, flow improvements, and quality checks to scale execution across multiple concurrent programs.
• Coordinate with global PD teams (San Jose, Irvine, Bangalore) to ensure consistent methodology and design quality.
• Experience with Cadence and/or Synopsys physical design tools/flows.
• Familiarity and working knowledge of SystemVerilog/Verilog.

Preferred Experience

• Deep understanding of high-speed SerDes physical layer, including equalization, CDR, and signal integrity considerations impacting physical design.
• Experience with PCIe, Ethernet, or retimer/signal conditioning ASIC implementation.
• Knowledge of physical layer timing challenges specific to high-speed serial interfaces.
• Hands-on experience with UPF-based multi-voltage/multi-power-domain implementations.
• Familiarity with advanced packaging or multi-die integration and its impact on physical design.
• Experience with ECO methodologies and DFT-aware physical design.
• Knowledge of EMIR-aware implementation techniques and early-stage IR drop mitigation.
• Track record of building and scaling physical design teams through multiple tapeouts.
• Knowledge of agentic AI solutions for EDA automation.

Salary range is CAD $180,000 to $220,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives, and benefits.

Job Description:

As an Analog/Mixed-Signal IC Design Engineer, you will be part of a key team designing sophisticated advanced node CMOS products. Your responsibilities will include developing and verifying circuits such as PLL, DLL, ADC, regulators, amplifiers, TX, RX, and CDRs to meet performance targets. You will also work on analog and clocking blocks for connectivity applications, using industry-standard tools like Spectre and MATLAB. The company seeks a highly motivated designer for this role

Basic Qualifications:

• Strong academic and technical background in electrical engineering. A Master’s or PhD degree in EE is required, preferably from a top-tier university.
• 8+ years of experience supporting or developing complex analog IC designs.

Required Experience:

• Hands-on experience in designing high-speed mixed-signal circuits including ADC/DAC data converters, RX front-end, TX driver/serializer, low-jitter PLLs, TX/RX calibration, low-jitter CLK distribution are other high-speed analog circuits is a must
• Have a deep understanding of biasing, band-gaps, reference circuits, opamps, comparators and other analog circuits
• Solid track-record for implementation of analog circuits high-speed data transmission.
• Design and tape out experience in advanced CMOS nodes (ex. 7nm, 5nm 3nmFinFET) is a must.
• Solid fundamentals in detailed transistor-level design, feedback/stability analysis, and noise/jitter analysis.
• Knowledge of TIA design and drivers for optical applications is highly desirable
• Experience in RFIC design for wireless or wireline communication systems is highly desirable.
• Strong technical independent contributor with a proven ability to drive results.
• Excellent teamwork, presentation, and documentation skills.
• Ability to collaborate with global teams across multiple time zones and deliver under pressure with strict deadlines.
• Strong experience in lab chip bring-up and debugging efforts.

Preferred Experience:

• Relevant research publications and/or patents in analog or RF IC design.
• Familiarity in programming/scripting languages such as Python, Matlab, or C.
• Experience with PCB design.
• Familiarity with Verilog RTL or DSP design concepts.
• Knowledge of optical transceivers.
• Expertise in ESD protection techniques and IC packaging methodologies.

 Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions.

Job Description

We are seeking a Technical Lead Digital Design Engineer with deep expertise in high-performance PCIE controller and bridge design, micro-architecture, RTL implementation, and IP integration. The ideal candidate will play a critical role in the development of cutting-edge connectivity solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and implement high-performance digital solutions, including RTL development and synthesis.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams on IP integration for Serdes and Controller IPS, processor and peripherals
• Own block-level and full-chip designs from architecture to GDS, focusing on designs at nodes ≤ 16nm.
• Ensure timing closure, assess verification completeness, CDC, lint etc.
• Utilize tools from Synopsys/Cadence for design and emulation.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s in Electronics/Electrical engineering (Master's preferred).
• 5+ years of digital design experience, with 4+ years focused on PCIE controller, PCS or PHY implementation.
• Proven expertise in RTL development, synthesis, and timing closure.
• Experience with front-end design, gate-level simulations, and design verification.
• Strong work ethic, ability to handle multiple tasks, and a proactive, customer-focused attitude.

Required Expertise:

• Hands-on experience with PCIE Controller or Serdes/PHY IP.
• Hands-on pre-silicon and post-silicon design implementation.
• Hands-on experience  FW interaction and embedded design.
• Strong proficiency in System Verilog/Verilog and scripting (Python/Perl).
• Experience with block-level and full-chip design at advanced nodes (≤ 16nm).
• Top level integration and DFT knowledge.

Preferred Experience:

• PCIE SerDes controller or IP level experience.
• Understanding of PAD design, DFT, and floor planning.
• Experience with NIC, switch, or storage product development including embedded FW.
• Familiarity with working in design and verification workflows in a CI/CD environment.