Physical Design Engineer
- Level
- Mid
- Work type
- On-site · Paris
Not stated in the posting: salary, visa.
Open. First seen 2 October 2026.
About the role
Arago's standard text
Meet Arago and the Aragonians
Arago is an AI and computer hardware company whose mission is to drive the course of history forward. We do so by accelerating breakthroughs at the intersection of AI and semiconductors.
Founded in 2024 by AI researchers and physicists with deep expertise in photonics, electronics, software, mathematics, and machine learning, Arago brings together a lean team of engineers and scientists from the world’s top companies and research labs.
Composed of nine nationalities and operating from hubs in France, North America, and Israel, we believe in great science and fast achievements. Our work is guided by these core principles:
- Do great things: we deliver work we’re proud to sign our name to.
- High velocity: speed matters. We move quickly, one step at a time.
- One unit: we’re all in this together, with relationships grounded in trust, respect, and camaraderie.
Arago is backed by executives from Apple, Arm, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Hugging Face, as well as prominent US and European deeptech venture firms and exited founders.
What you’ll do
As a Digital Backend Design Engineer, you will be responsible for the physical implementation of digital designs from RTL to GDSII, leveraging cutting-edge EDA tools and methodologies. You will collaborate closely with RTL design, DFT, and packaging teams to achieve optimal performance, power, and area (PPA), while meeting stringent timing and yield targets.
Required Skills and Experience
- Master’s or PhD degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering or a related field.
- 4+ years experience in digital IC backend implementation.
- Proficiency with backend EDA tools, particularly Cadence Innovus and Genus.
- Strong understanding of place & route (P&R), static timing analysis (STA), DRC/LVS verification, IR drop, and electromigration (EM) analysis.
- Experience with advanced technology nodes (22nm or below preferred).
- Skilled in Tcl scripting for automation of backend flows.
- Experience in hierarchical or full-chip implementation is preferred.
- Language: English at a proficient level. French is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Execute full-chip and block-level physical design tasks including floorplanning, placement, clock tree synthesis, routing, and physical verification.
- Develop and optimize the digital backend flow.
- Drive timing closure, power optimization, and physical verification (LVS/DRC/ERC).
- Collaborate with front-end designers to address timing and logical/physical interface issues.
- Support tapeout preparation and final signoff processes.
Pay and benefits
- Competitive cash compensation, with final package based on location, experience, and the pay of team members in similar positions.
- Meaningful stock option plan offered at the earliest stage of the company (included in the majority of full time offers).
- Relocation bonus and coverage of moving expenses for relocation within 20 minutes of the company’s location.
- Healthcare coverage (including family-friendly options), pension contributions, professional development support, and 25 days of PTO, in addition to public holidays.
- Ownership of a key technical domain, with significant vertical and/or horizontal growth opportunities, based on performance and individual drive.
- Reimbursement of 50% of the public transport subscription fee.
- A high-paced, multicultural (with 9 nationalities), and engineering-led environment.
What this role asks for
In most of Arago's ads
Hugging Face · Machine Learning
Named in most of its open postings, whatever the role.
65% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Arago's standard text, folded away below.
Read against Arago's other open postings on this site.
The team: Digital IC HIRES STEADILY
This role is one of 5 open in Digital IC. 1 was posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in May: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.
WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS
Hugging Face (3 of 5), Machine Learning (3 of 5), Verilog (3 of 5), FPGA (2 of 5), Python (2 of 5)
OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM
- Senior Hardware Design Engineer posted Oct 13
- Mixed-signal Verification Engineer posted Sep 2
- Architecture Modeling Engineer posted Aug 28
- Digital Verification Engineer posted Jul 25
From the team and dates on Arago's own job board.
Salary context
9 other open postings titled Physical Design Engineer state a salary: median USD 200,000 to USD 320,000 a year.
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