Posted 5 months ago

Digital - Staff Digital Design Engineer - PHY

TorontoOn-siteFull-time

AI Summary

Senior frontend digital design lead for D2D PHY, owning RTL from microarchitecture through synthesis, with hands-on leadership across architecture, verification, and physical design.

About this role

Join the leading chiplet startup! As an Eliyan Staff Digital Design Engineer, you will be working at a fast-paced early-stage startup creating technologies that fuel tomorrow's chiplet-based systems with best-in-class power, area, manufacturability, and design flexibility. In this role you will lead the frontend design of our D2D PHY - the core tech behind NuLink, our chiplet interconnect platform. You'll own the digital PHY from microarchitecture through synthesis, working closely with our architecture, analog, verification, and physical design teams. This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You'll define PHY architecture, write RTL, optimize for synthesis, create timing constraints, develop firmware sequences, and ensure clean integration across the stack. Your work directly enables next-gen chiplet-based AI and HPC systems. We offer a fun work environment with excellent benefits. ONSITE M-F.

Key Responsibilities:

Architecture & RTL Design

Own D2D PHY digital design from microarchitecture definition through synthesis and PD handoff

Design data path and clocking architecture for UCIe-compliant advanced package PHY

Write RTL for link training, calibration engines, rate adaptation, CDC, FIFO alignment, and lane deskew

Create microarchitecture specs with power analysis, latency metrics, and performance characterization

Make architectural trade-offs balancing performance, power, area, and timing

Synthesis & Optimization

Drive synthesis optimization: area, timing, power, QoR

Create comprehensive SDC constraints for multi-clock domains, false paths, multi-cycle paths, CDC

Generate UPF power specifications with voltage domains, isolation, and retention

Establish LINT/CDC flows with rulesets and waiver management

Deliver synthesis-ready netlists with handoff documentation for physical design

Technical Leadership & Collaboration

Coordinate with analog PHY team on digital control for TX/RX, PLL, calibration

Partner with verification team on testbench requirements, coverage goals, and protocol compliance

Collaborate with physical design on placement guidelines, clock tree requirements, routing constraints

Work with firmware team on register interfaces, link training sequences, runtime control

Mentor 2-3 digital designers on frontend design and synthesis optimization

Drive design reviews and technical decisions across teams

Required Qualifications:

8+ years digital frontend design with 4+ years in PHY or high-speed interfaces

3+ successful tapeouts as design lead in advanced nodes (7nm or below)

Deep expertise in D2D PHY, DDR PHY, or SerDes digital design

Expert SystemVerilog RTL design with strong synthesis optimization skills

Strong understanding of UCIe or other high-speed interfaces like DDR/Serdes

Advanced CDC design, link training protocols, elastic buffer architectures

Hands-on with synthesis tools (Synopsys DC/Fusion Compiler or Cadence Genus)

Experience with SDC constraints, UPF, STA methodology

Proven ability to lead frontend design and coordinate across teams

Preferred Qualifications:

12+ years with demonstrated technical leadership

UCIe PHY design or certification experience

DDR4/DDR5/LPDDR PHY or DFI interface experience

SerDes digital control (TX/RX equalization, CDR), PCIe PHY, or CXL PHY experience

Advanced packaging knowledge: 2.5D, 3D, organic substrate

Firmware development for PHY control or low-level driver implementation

Python/Perl/Tcl scripting for design automation

Publications or patents in PHY design

Skills

Cadence GenusCalibration EnginesCDC DesignClocking ArchitectureData Path DesignDC/Fusion CompilerDDR/SerDes DesignFabrication-aware OptimizationLane DeskewMicroarchitecture SpecificationRF/PLL/D2D PHY ConceptsRTL DesignSDC ConstraintsSTA MethodologySynthesis OptimizationSystemVerilogTiming AnalysisUCIe PHY DesignUPF

Digital - Staff Digital Design Engineer - PHY

About this role

Key Responsibilities:

Required Qualifications:

Preferred Qualifications:

Skills

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