Place & Route (P&R) Engineer – Privacy Hardware / FHE

Remote – USA | Contract – 6+ Months

About the Company:

Our client is pioneering the next generation of secure computation through hardware-accelerated Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). They’re building high-performance ASICs to power privacy-preserving applications across government, finance, and AI. If you thrive in technically challenging, mission-driven environments, this is a rare opportunity to get in early and make real impact.

Role Overview:

We’re seeking a P&R Engineer to join a small, world-class silicon team. You’ll own the physical implementation of custom chips designed to accelerate complex cryptographic workloads. This includes floorplanning, placement, routing, optimization, and timing closure.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive physical design activities from netlist to GDSII for high-performance crypto accelerators.
• Own or contribute to floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, and physical verification (LVS/DRC).
• Work closely with RTL, synthesis, and architecture teams to ensure PPA targets are met.
• Perform timing analysis and drive closure across corners and operating modes.
• Identify and resolve congestion, IR drop, or signal integrity issues.
• Contribute to design flow improvements and automation for scalable chip development.

Ideal Background:

• 5+ years of experience in ASIC physical design, with a strong focus on Place & Route.
• Proven experience in delivering blocks or full chips through to GDSII.
• Proficient with tools such as Cadence Innovus, Synopsys IC Compiler II, PrimeTime, and physical verification tools (Calibre or equivalent).
• Deep knowledge of timing closure, clocking strategies, and congestion management.
• Experience working on advanced nodes (e.g. 7nm, 12nm, 16nm, or similar).
• Bonus: background in cryptographic accelerators, high-performance compute, or secure hardware.

Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with FHE, cryptographic IPs, or privacy-preserving computation.
• Background in early-stage silicon startups or R&D-heavy environments.
• Scripting knowledge (Python, Tcl, etc.) for design flow automation.

Contract Details:

• Duration: 6+ months, extendable
• Location: Remote – USA
• Engagement: Flexible (W2, 1099, or Corp-to-Corp)

Darwin Recruitment is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.

Reece Waldon