---
title: 'Physical Design Engineer at Fortell'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/physical-design-engineer-fortell-san-francisco-bay-area-ca-pwpnp5w1gt5d'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Physical Design Engineer at Fortell

- **Company:** Fortell
- **Location:** San Francisco Bay Area CA, United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-07-06
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/fortell/a8c1498d-b207-4bfc-9275-65468ca86870

## Job description

Fortell is building breakthrough AI-powered hearing technology that redefines how people experience sound and connect with the world. Powered by custom silicon and advances in hearing science, our hearing aids help people hear, and live, with greater clarity and confidence.

We're looking for an experienced Physical Design Engineer to help bring our next-generation custom ASICs from RTL to silicon. You'll play a critical role in delivering high-performance, low-power silicon that powers our AI-enabled hearing platform, while helping evolve the methodologies and flows that enable our engineering team to scale.

Job Responsibilities:

- Execute synthesis, PNR, and STA for assigned partitions of ASIC chip adhering to strict schedules and design goals.
- Work closely with architects, RTL designers, and DFT engineers to resolve implementation and signoff issues across your blocks.
- Help close EM/IR, drive LEC and physical verification signoff for your partitions in coordination with methodology owners.
- Partner with the design team to proactively identify and address potential physical design challenges, enabling efficient iteration and convergence.
- Contribute to the refinement of other implementation and physical design methodologies, encompassing synthesis, place and route (PnR), electromigration and IR (EMIR), power delivery network (PDN), and logical equivalence checking (LEC).
- Troubleshoot flow issues and collaborate with EDA vendors to resolve them as needed.

Minimum Qualifications:

- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 7+ years of hands-on experience in physical design and implementation, encompassing synthesis, PnR, timing convergence and physical verification.
- Proficiency in utilizing Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools such as Innovus, Tempus, and Quantus, as well as a deep understanding of physical design flows and methodologies.

Preferred Qualifications:

- 7+ years of experience in physical design roles and related activities.
- Proven ability to adhere to tight schedules and implement low-power design techniques.
- Experience in System-on-Chip (SoC) design and implementation.
- Expertise in sub-7nm node technologies.
- Familiarity with industry-standard EDA tools and their capabilities.
- Strong scripting skills in TCL to develop custom flows and methodologies on standard EDA tools from Cadence/Synopsys.

## About Fortell

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Fortell builds AI-powered hearing aids that use custom silicon and advanced signal processing to clarify speech in noisy environments, helping people understand more of what they hear.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by prominent venture capital firms)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Matthew de Jonge (CEO), Andrew Casper (CTO), Igor (last name not publicly available), Cole (last name not publicly available)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Medical device manufacturing (hearing aids), artificial intelligence, healthtech
- **Target customers**: B2C – individuals with hearing loss, especially those who struggle with speech comprehension in noise; also works with audiologists and clinics
- **Mission statement**: "To restore effortless connection through better hearing."

## Products & Services
- **Fortell AI Hearing Aids**: A hardware + software product featuring custom AI chips that separate speech from background noise in real time. The device is fitted and programmed through Fortell’s own audiology clinics (first clinic at 530 Park Ave, New York, NY). The product is marketed as a medical device and is available only after a personalized hearing evaluation and fitting by an audiologist.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding amount not disclosed; backed by Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners, Optum Ventures, Lux Capital, Vast Ventures, Good Friends, Positive Sum, Stonecroft, and Atreides Management.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Valor Equity Partners (lead investors); advisors include Dr. Barbara Weinstein (Professor of Audiology, NYU), Dr. Kevin Franck (former Chair, Hearing Loss Association of America), Dr. Matt Fitzgerald (Stanford), Dr. Jan Blustein (NYU School of Medicine).
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - 52 employees (LinkedIn) with +1.6% monthly headcount growth
  - 15 active job postings (as of mid-2025), with a 200% monthly increase and 1400% quarterly increase in postings
  - First clinic in New York City; planning to expand to multiple major U.S. cities (e.g., Palm Beach Gardens, FL; Bay Area; Boston; Greenwich, CT)
  - Clinical trials show 50x more words understood vs. leading AI hearing aid in challenging noise; 95% of participants preferred Fortell over 5 top-spec competitors

## Competitive Advantages
- **Custom AI silicon**: Proprietary chips designed specifically for real-time speech separation, not just amplification.
- **Clinical validation**: Randomized controlled trials overseen by external academics demonstrating significant improvement in speech comprehension.
- **Integrated clinic model**: Direct-to-consumer fitting and support through owned audiology clinics, ensuring proper tuning and customer satisfaction.
- **Strong investor syndicate**: Backing from top-tier VCs (Thrive, Founders Fund, Valor) provides credibility and resources.

## Strategic Focus
- **Clinic expansion**: Opening new clinics across the U.S. to increase accessibility.
- **Talent acquisition**: Aggressively hiring across engineering (firmware, DSP, AI, hardware), audiology, quality, supply chain, and operations.
- **Product refinement**: Continuous improvement of AI algorithms and hardware based on real-world feedback and clinical data.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as fast-moving, intentional, and mission-driven. Emphasis on cutting-edge science, human-centered design, and improving lives at scale.
- **Work environment**: Hybrid roles available (e.g., Firmware Engineer listed as hybrid on Built In). Office located in New York City with free lunch.
- **Compensation & benefits**: Competitive salary and stock options; top-notch healthcare for employee and family; free lunch; generous paid time off; 401(k) plan; parental leave.
- **Engineering culture**: Opportunity to work on custom silicon, AI/ML, DSP, and hardware in a startup environment with strong scientific backing. Team includes pioneers from Google, Butterfly Network, Mount Sinai, and other top organizations.

## Sources
1. [Fortell.com – Homepage](https://www.fortell.com/)
2. [Fortell.com – About Us](https://www.fortell.com/about-us)
3. [Fortell.com – Careers](https://www.fortell.com/careers)
4. [LinkedIn – Fortell Research Inc](https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortell-research)
5. [Built In – Fortell Research Inc Jobs](https://builtin.com/company/fortell-research-inc/jobs)

## Other roles at Fortell

- [Remote Clinical Audiologist](https://feeny.ai/job/remote-clinical-audiologist-fortell-remote-3wafyxbbpz2c)
- [Fulfillment Specialist (part-time)](https://feeny.ai/job/fulfillment-specialist-part-time-fortell-new-york-ahmbtpb6pkwr) — New York, NY
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- [Senior Marketing Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-marketing-designer-fortell-new-york-31ww3ddm33q0) — New York, NY
- [Senior Technical Program Manager, Product Delivery](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-technical-program-manager-product-delivery-fortell-new-york-748ahvpqp754) — New York, NY
- [Office Manager - Clinic Operations, Boston, MA](https://feeny.ai/job/office-manager-clinic-operations-boston-ma-fortell-boston-4cd0n71wbwb0) — Boston, MA
- [Senior RF Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-rf-engineer-fortell-new-york-mfeq0ypwp30w) — New York, NY
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- [Audiologist, Clinic Director, Los Angeles](https://feeny.ai/job/audiologist-clinic-director-los-angeles-fortell-los-angeles-j652yjyczhvf) — Los Angeles, CA