Staff/ Principal Physical Design Engineer - SoC EMIR Expert

Role Overview

Astera Labs is establishing a strategic R&D center in Israel to drive the development of complex semiconductor chips that solve the critical 'data bottlenecks' enabling the future of AI at scale. As we expand our presence in Israel, we're seeking a highly skilled Physical Design Engineer specializing in SoC EMIR to join our local engineering powerhouse from the ground up.

This is a unique opportunity to take on meaningful technical ownership in a new site, executing the backend power methodologies for chips that power the world's largest AI clusters. As an EMIR Engineer, you will be a core technical contributor ensuring the power robustness and long-term reliability of our high-performance connectivity silicon.

You will be responsible for SoC EMIR Analysis to ensure our products meet aggressive voltage drop and reliability targets in advanced FinFET process nodes, directly impacting the performance and yield of chips operating in the world’s most demanding AI and cloud environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Take responsibility on IR drop analysis and signal/power electromigration (EM) of very complex chip
• Collaborate closely with Physical Design team to insure a full power integrity
• Be responsible on IR architecture for timing convergence
• Partner with Package Design engineers to perform Chip-Package co-analysis (CPM)
• Understand root-cause analysis for voltage drop violations and EM risks
• Be responsible and go-to person for any IR related issues

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical field
• 10+ years of hands-on experience in EMIR/Power Integrity analysis for high-performance SoCs or high-speed connectivity products
• Strong proficiency in industry-standard EMIR tools (Ansys RedHawk/RedHawk-SC, or Cadence Voltus)
• Deep understanding of EM/IR challenges in advanced FinFET nodes (7nm, 5nm, 3nm)
• Deep understanding of Place & Route flows, power grid synthesis, extraction (RC), and standard cell architecture
• Ability to define and own EMIR methodologies
• Capability to identify issues early in the project lifecycle (preferably with experience in sub-N5 TSMC technologies)
• Deep understanding of EM and trade-offs between signal EM and power grid (PG) EM
• Thermal analysis, self-heat and Statistical EM proficiency

Preferred Experience

• Familiarity with thermal analysis tools and their interaction with electrical performance
• Experience working with sign-off criteria and margins for high-volume production chips
• Good understanding of timing and P&R
• Good understanding of packaging, top metal layers, MIM capacitor usage, and power distribution
• Understanding of ESD (including full CDM closure) and latch-up
• Strong Reliability knowledge
• Ability to write TCL scripts for STA and Fusion Compiler (FC)