Senior Principal Engineer, IC Physical Design

Senior Principal Physical IC Design Engineer

Location: Camarillo, CA (On-Site)

About SAAZ Micro

SAAZ Micro designs and manufactures advanced electro-optical and infrared semiconductor solutions spanning detectors, ROICs, ASICs, advanced packaging, and edge-AI systems for defense, space, and commercial markets. Our vertically integrated approach enables rapid transition from concept to deployed systems.

We are seeking a Principal Physical IC Design Engineer to lead physical implementation of complex mixed-signal and digital ICs across multiple technology nodes, working closely with architecture, circuit design, packaging, and manufacturing teams.

Role Overview

As a Principal Physical IC Design Engineer, you will own the full physical implementation flow for advanced ICs—from synthesis handoff through place-and-route, signoff, and tape-out. You will act as a technical authority on physical design tradeoffs involving performance, power, area, reliability, and manufacturability, and mentor other engineers while shaping best practices across the organization.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a management position. The role may require supervision and mentoring of junior staff.

This is a full-time, on-site role at SAAZ’s Camarillo, California facility.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end physical design and implementation of complex digital and mixed-signal ICs
  
  
  
  • Floorplanning, power planning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, and optimization
  
  
  
  


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• Own timing closure, power integrity, signal integrity, EM/IR, and DFM signoff


• Drive resolution of DRC, LVS, antenna, ESD, and reliability issues through tape-out


• Work across a wide range of process nodes (≈350nm down to 7nm and below)


• Interface closely with:
  
  
  
  • Digital RTL and verification teams
  
  
  • Analog and mixed-signal designers
  
  
  • Packaging and system engineers
  
  
  • Foundries and external design partners
  
  
  
  


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• Evaluate and optimize physical architectures for performance, power, yield, and scalability


• Develop and maintain physical design methodologies, scripts, and flows


• Mentor junior and senior engineers in physical implementation best practices


• Support silicon bring-up, debug, and yield-learning activities post-tape-out

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering or related field


• 10+ years of hands-on experience in physical IC design and implementation
  


• Proven experience independently owning place-and-route through signoff


• Strong understanding of ROICs, ASIC, 3D-ICs, cryo, rad-hard and stitched methodologies


• Strong understanding of:
  
  
  
  • Timing analysis (STA)
  
  
  • Power delivery networks
  
  
  • EM/IR and reliability constraints
  
  
  • DRC/LVS/antenna/ESD rules
  
  
  
  


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• Experience with industry-standard EDA tools (e.g., Synopsys, Cadence)


• Experience working across multiple standard-cell libraries and timing models


• Demonstrated success taking multiple chips to silicon

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with mixed-signal or sensor-centric ASICs
  


• Familiarity with advanced packaging or chip-to-chip integration


• Experience working with aerospace, defense, or high-reliability silicon


• US citizen who has held secret level or higher clearances


• Ability to read and collaborate on RTL and analog layouts


• Experience improving or building physical design flows from the ground up

Work Environment

• On-site position at SAAZ’s Camarillo, CA facility


• Close collaboration with silicon, systems, and packaging teams


• Access to full-stack semiconductor development—from device to deployed system

Why SAAZ

• Work on mission-critical sensors and ASICs used in real-world deployments


• Influence architecture and silicon outcomes at the earliest design stages


• Join a deeply technical, fast-moving team with real ownership and impact


• Opportunity to shape the physical design strategy of a growing semiconductor company