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Freelance Physical Design Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Etched

Physical Design Engineer

Cupertino, CA

$2.0K/mo

Physical Design Engineer Etched is looking for exceptional PD engineers to join our team. The candidate will be responsible for working with 3rd party design services to implement and verify physical ...

Apple

Physical Design Engineer

Bodega Bay, CA

$262K - $394K/yr

Description As a Physical Design engineer you will contribute to all phases of physical design of high performance PHY design from RTL to delivery of our final GDSII. Your responsibilities include ...

Altera Corporation

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$118K - $169K/yr

About the Role We are seeking a Physical Design Engineer to join our Silicon Design Automation & Implementation organization. In this role, you will contribute to the implementation of custom IP and ...

Apple Inc.

Physical Design Engineer

Sunnyvale, CA · On-site

$184.70 - $324.80/hr

Description As a Physical Design engineer you will contribute to all phases of physical design of high performance PHY design from RTL to delivery of our final GDSII. Your responsibilities include ...

Apple

Physical Design Engineer

Bodega Bay, CA

$150K - $277K/yr

Description As a Physical Design engineer you will contribute to all phases of physical design of high performance PHY design from RTL to delivery of our final GDSII. Your responsibilities include ...

Altera

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA

$118K - $169K/yr

About the Role We are seeking a Physical Design Engineer to join our Silicon Design Automation & Implementation organization. In this role, you will contribute to the implementation of custom IP and ...

Altera Corporation

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$133K - $192K/yr

About the Role We are seeking a Physical Design Engineer to join our Silicon Engineering and Physical Design organization. In this role, you will be responsible for implementing advanced custom IP ...

The PJF Group

Physical Design Engineer

Bodega Bay, CA · On-site

$180K - $230K/yr

We're looking for a hands-on Physical Design Engineer to support complex SoC projects for our client who designs and delivers advanced System-on-Chip solutions across multiple emerging technologies.

The PJF Group

Physical Design Engineer

Bodega Bay, CA · On-site

$161K - $166K/yr

We're looking for a hands-on Physical Design Engineer to support complex SoC projects for our client who designs and delivers advanced System-on-Chip solutions across multiple emerging technologies.

CivicMinds, Inc.

Physical Design Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site

$145K - $150K/yr

Physical design engineers are ideally creative, motivated, energetic, pleasant to work with, and put the needs of the team first. These candidates will be responsible for designs and test structures ...

Talent 101 Inc

Physical Design Engineer

Frisco, TX · On-site

$100 - $130/hr

About the role This is a full time position with our company doing Physical Design Engineering. What you'll do * Lead end to end Physical Design from floorplan to GDS * Own full PnR flow: placement ...

Talent 101, Inc.

Physical Design Engineer

Frisco, TX · On-site

$127K - $131K/yr

This is a full time position with our company doing Physical Design Engineering. What you'll do * Lead end to end Physical Design from floorplan to GDS * Own full PnR flow: placement, CTS, routing ...

Mirafra Technology

Physical Design Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site

$144K - $148K/yr

Job Overview: The Graphics team is looking for Experienced Physical Design Engineers to work on Adreno Graphics cores in the area of Physical Implementation. Responsibilities: The Physical ...

Delos

Physical Design Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$120 - $160/hr

Job Summary Etched is looking for exceptional Physical Design engineers to join our team. In this role, you will own block-level implementation and verification, drive timing closure and PPA ...

Etched

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$200K - $300K/yr

Job Summary Etched is looking for exceptional Physical Design engineers to join our team. In this role, you will own block-level implementation and verification, drive timing closure and PPA ...

Etched

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$200K - $300K/yr

Job Summary Etched is looking for exceptional Physical Design engineers to join our team. In this role, you will own block-level implementation and verification, drive timing closure and PPA ...

Broadcom Inc.

Physical Design Engineer

Colorado Springs, CO · On-site

$129.40 - $207/hr

Job Overview Broadcom is searching for a Physical IC Design Engineer to join the Data Center Solutions Group at our main campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This position involves working with the ...

The Consensus

Physical Design Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$180 - $240/hr

Job Summary Etched is looking for exceptional Physical Design engineers to join our team. In this role, you will own block-level implementation and verification, drive timing closure and PPA ...

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Freelance Physical Design Engineer information

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$132

How much do freelance physical design engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 16, 2026, the average hourly pay for freelance physical design engineer in the United States is $47.71, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $24.28 and $61.78 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Freelance Physical Design Engineer vs Full-Time Physical Design Engineer?

AspectFreelance Physical Design EngineerFull-Time Physical Design Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires a relevant degree and industry experience; certifications are optionalRequires a degree and often certifications or ongoing training
Work EnvironmentIndependent, project-based, remote or on-siteCompany office or dedicated team environment
Employer & Industry UsageHired by multiple clients across various companies; flexible engagementsEmployed by a single company; stable employment
Work ScopeSpecific projects, often short-termOngoing responsibilities within a team or department

The main difference between a Freelance Physical Design Engineer and a Full-Time Physical Design Engineer lies in employment type, work environment, and project scope. Freelancers work independently on short-term projects for multiple clients, offering flexibility. Full-time engineers are employed by a single company, focusing on continuous, long-term responsibilities within a team.

What is a freelance physical design engineer?

Freelance Physical Design Engineers are specialized professionals who work independently, often on a contract basis, to design and implement the physical layout of integrated circuits (ICs) and chips. They are responsible for taking a digital circuit design and transforming it into a manufacturable physical layout, which includes tasks such as floorplanning, placement, routing, timing analysis, and verification. These engineers typically use electronic design automation (EDA) tools and collaborate remotely with semiconductor companies, startups, or design teams. Freelance Physical Design Engineers offer flexibility and specialized expertise for projects without requiring long-term employment commitments.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a freelance physical design engineer?

To thrive as a Freelance Physical Design Engineer, you need expertise in ASIC/FPGA physical design, knowledge of VLSI concepts, and a degree in electrical or electronics engineering. Familiarity with EDA tools such as Cadence, Synopsys, or Mentor Graphics, and experience with scripting languages like TCL or Python are typically required. Strong problem-solving, communication, and time management skills help freelancers efficiently collaborate with clients and meet project deadlines. These skills and qualities are vital for delivering high-quality chip designs and succeeding in a competitive, project-based environment.

What are some common challenges faced by freelance physical design engineers, and how can they be addressed?

Freelance physical design engineers often encounter challenges such as limited access to advanced EDA tools, variable project scopes, and the need to quickly adapt to different clients' design methodologies. To address these, it’s important to invest in personal tool licenses or partner with clients who provide access, maintain a strong network to secure consistent projects, and stay updated on industry trends and technologies. Effective communication and documentation also help ensure alignment with client expectations and avoid misunderstandings during the project lifecycle.
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Freelance Physical Design Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Freelance Physical Design Engineer job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 74% Full Time, and 26% Contract. Highlights an 95% In-person, and 5% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $99,230 per year, or $47.7 per hour.

Physical Design Engineer

Etched

Cupertino, CA

$2.0K/mo

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision

Re-posted 23 days ago

Job description

About Etched

Etched is building AI chips that are hard-coded for individual model architectures. Our first product (Sohu) only supports transformers, but has an order of magnitude more throughput and lower latency than a B200. With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely deep chain-of-thought reasoning.

Physical Design Engineer 

Etched is looking for exceptional PD engineers to join our team. The candidate will be responsible for working with 3rd party design services to implement and verify physical designs, and will help Etched as we work to improve iteration speed on physical design.

Representative projects:

  • Supervise the outsourcing of physical design to a 3rd party service
  • Deeply understand what is involved in physical design
  • Running Physical Design flows to close blocks, support ASIC infrastructure, automate Physical Design flows, improve CAD infrastructure
  • Drive dashboards that show the convergence of projects related to Physical Design
  • Optimize tool flows, working with EDA vendors to incorporate the latest features
  • Accountable for block level closure

Requirements:

  • 2+ years of previous experience with PD
  • Tools, flow, and design methodology from RTL synthesis to GDSII sign-off
  • Experience with back-end design and timing closure on 3nm-7nm
  • Experience with UPF-based low power design methodology, power verification, synthesis, scan insertion/ATPG, formal verification, floorplanning, placement, CTS, routing, IR drop, and EM/antenna analysis
  • Deeply creative and able to think from first principles

Desired qualifications:

  • Familiarity with transformer models and machine learning.
  • Familiarity with OpenROAD and other automated RTL-to-GDSII flows
  • Ability to program with Python or another scripting language.

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification.

How we're different:

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We think most of the progress in the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which creates a market for single-model ASICs.

We are a fully in-person team in Cupertino, and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both as needed.

Benefits:

  • Full medical, dental, and vision packages, with 100% of premium covered, 90% for dependents
  • Housing subsidy of $2,000/month for those living within walking distance of the office
  • Daily lunch and dinner in our office
  • Relocation support for those moving to Cupertino

Apply