---
title: 'Physical Design Engineer, Timing at Tenstorrent'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/physical-design-engineer-timing-tenstorrent-austin-texas-bsf7bpp8thtj'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-26'
---

# Physical Design Engineer, Timing at Tenstorrent

- **Company:** Tenstorrent
- **Location:** Austin Texas, United States / Fort Collins Colorado, United States / Santa Clara California, United States
- **Posted:** 2026-09-22
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-26
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/tenstorrent/jobs/5246301007

## Job description

Tenstorrent is leading the industry on cutting-edge AI technology, revolutionizing performance expectations, ease of use, and cost efficiency. With AI redefining the computing paradigm, solutions must evolve to unify innovations in software models, compilers, platforms, networking, and semiconductors. Our diverse team of technologists have developed a high performance RISC-V CPU from scratch, and share a passion for AI and a deep desire to build the best AI platform possible. We value collaboration, curiosity, and a commitment to solving hard problems. We are growing our team and looking for contributors of all seniorities.

Tenstorrent is looking for a mid- to senior-level Physical Design Engineer with a strong background in static timing analysis (STA). In this role, you will help converge multi-million-gate designs on advanced process nodes and partner with cross-functional teams through final signoff and tapeout.

This role is hybrid, based out of Austin, TX, Fort Collins, CO, or Santa Clara, CA.

We welcome candidates at various experience levels for this role. During the interview process, candidates will be assessed for the appropriate level, and offers will align with that level, which may differ from the one in this posting.

## Who You Are

- A physical design engineer with 8+ years of experience in STA, timing closure, and advanced-node design implementation.
- Experienced with timing flows, constraints, clocking, CDC, RDC, derates, uncertainties, guardbanding, and final signoff.
- Skilled in writing and debugging SDC constraints, creating ECOs, developing closure strategies, and analyzing worst-case corners.
- A strong collaborator and communicator who can drive results across distributed, cross-functional engineering teams.

## What We Need

- Drive timing convergence across blocks, partitions, sections, and top-level designs; generate and validate timing models and publish results.
- Analyze timing violations, develop and propagate fixes, debug timing-flow issues, and keep execution progressing through tapeout.
- Develop and validate bottom-up constraints while partnering with Design and DFT teams on methodology updates and closure requirements.
- Use Python, Perl, and Tcl for automation and flow development; experience with SPICE, PNR, placement, CTS, routing, post-route optimization, DFT, or AI-based automation is a plus.

## What You Will Learn

- How to develop scalable timing models, constraints, and closure strategies across multiple levels of design hierarchy.
- How clocking, guardbanding, derates, uncertainties, CDC, RDC, and process corners influence timing convergence.
- How timing, physical design, Design, and DFT methodologies come together to deliver successful tapeouts.
- How to improve implementation and signoff workflows through scripting, automation, flow development, and emerging AI-enabled solutions.

Compensation for all engineers at Tenstorrent ranges from $100k - $500k including base and variable compensation targets. Experience, skills, education, background and location all impact the actual offer made.

Tenstorrent offers a highly competitive compensation package and benefits, and we are an equal opportunity employer.

This position requires access to technology that requires a U.S. export license for persons whose most recent country of citizenship or permanent residence is a U.S. EAR Country Groups D:1, E1, or E2 country. This offer of employment is contingent upon the applicant being eligible to access U.S. export-controlled technology.  Due to U.S. export laws, including those codified in the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Company is required to ensure compliance with these laws when transferring technology to nationals of certain countries (such as EAR Country Groups D:1, E1, and E2).   These requirements apply to persons located in the U.S. and all countries outside the U.S.  As the position offered will have direct and/or indirect access to information, systems, or technologies subject to these laws, the offer may be contingent upon your citizenship/permanent residency status or ability to obtain prior license approval from the U.S. Commerce Department or applicable federal agency.  If employment is not possible due to U.S. export laws, any offer of employment will be rescinded.

## About Tenstorrent

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Tenstorrent develops open-source AI hardware and software, including its proprietary Tensix processor architecture and AI accelerators, to provide transparent, modifiable, and performant computing solutions.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series D)
- **Headquarters**: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- **Founded**: 2016
- **Founders**: Ljubisa Bajic, Ivan Hamer, Milos Trajkovic

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Artificial Intelligence Hardware & Software, Semiconductors, Computing Infrastructure
- **Target customers**: Hyperscalers, enterprises, governments (seeking sovereign AI), AI developers, and researchers (B2B focus with a strong developer community)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Build an Open Future with Us." The company is committed to building an open, affordable, transparent, and modifiable future for AI computing.

## Products & Services
- **Tensix Processor**: The core AI processing unit, a proprietary, high-performance architecture that serves as the foundation for Tenstorrent’s AI accelerators.
- **TT-Forge™**: An MLIR-based open-source AI compiler (public beta) designed to work with PyTorch, JAX, and ONNX, enabling developers to compile and optimize models for Tenstorrent hardware.
- **TT-Metalium**: A low-level software stack and kernel development environment for maximizing hardware performance.
- **AI Servers & Systems**: Sovereign, scale-out servers for production AI workloads, designed for high performance and flexibility without vendor lock-in.
- **Flexible IP for Specific Workloads**: Customizable intellectual property for customers who need tailored silicon solutions.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: $2.6 billion (Post-money valuation as of Series D, December 2, 2024) [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $1.18 billion raised over 10 rounds.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Fidelity Investments, Real Ventures, Samsung Securities, and 27 other institutional investors. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
- **Growth Signals**: 
    - Headcount of 1,220 as of May 31, 2026, indicating significant scaling. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
    - Led by legendary chip architect Jim Keller (CEO), signaling deep technical credibility and industry pull. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
    - Aggressive global expansion with offices in North America (Toronto, Austin, Santa Clara, Boston, Fort Collins), Europe (Warsaw, Munich, Belgrade, Gdansk), and Asia (Tokyo, Bengaluru, Pangyo).
    - Active open-source community with a public bounty program, developer forums, and a public beta of TT-Forge.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Open-Source First Philosophy**: Unlike most AI chip competitors (e.g., NVIDIA, Groq, Cerebras), Tenstorrent commits to transparent IP, open architectures, and open-source software, allowing customers to edit, fork, and own their silicon future. This directly counters vendor lock-in.
- **Legendary Leadership**: CEO Jim Keller’s track record (Apple A4/A5, AMD Zen, Tesla Autopilot chip, Intel) is a massive talent magnet and a strong signal of technical execution capability. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
- **Full-Stack Ownership**: Tenstorrent designs its own silicon (Tensix), builds its own systems, and develops the entire software stack (compiler, kernel, models), ensuring deep hardware-software co-optimization.
- **RISC-V Architecture**: The company is deeply invested in the open RISC-V instruction set architecture, positioning itself within a rapidly growing ecosystem that offers flexibility and freedom from proprietary ISAs like ARM and x86. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)

## Strategic Focus
- **Scaling Global Engineering**: Rapidly hiring across hardware (SoC, Physical Design, AI Hardware), software (Kernel, Compiler, Infrastructure), and operations in multiple countries.
- **Building the Developer Ecosystem**: Growing the open-source community around TT-Forge and TT-Metalium to drive adoption and create a moat of developer tools and libraries.
- **Sovereign AI**: Targeting governments and large enterprises that want to build their own AI infrastructure without relying on a single vendor, aligning with geopolitical trends toward AI independence.
- **Production Deployments**: Moving from R&D to large-scale server deployments for production AI workloads.

## Why Work Here
- **Innovate at the Cutting Edge**: Work on the full stack of AI computing—from silicon architecture and RTL design to open-source compilers and large-scale systems—alongside world-class engineers.
- **Learn from the Best**: The company emphasizes a culture of learning; they look for "curious and collaborative contributors" and state, "Come with the right mindset, we can help with the rest." [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)
- **Open-Source Impact**: Engineers can contribute to and shape open-source projects that will be used by the global AI community, with a public bounty program that pays for contributions. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en)
- **Global and Flexible**: With offices across North America, Europe, and Asia, there are opportunities for relocation or local hiring in major tech hubs.
- **Compelling Mission**: The chance to "build an open future" and directly challenge the dominant players in AI hardware (NVIDIA) is a powerful motivator for engineers who value technical freedom and impact.

## Sources
1. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en)
2. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/careers)
3. [tenstorrent.com](https://tenstorrent.com/en/vision)
4. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/tenstorrent/__p54YXQoDh79n2Cg0a71HzwpVoEx1MJmN5NLVmq-dRbE)
5. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/tenstorrent)

## Other roles at Tenstorrent

- [Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiter-tenstorrent-santa-clara-california-w29aphsbbjky) — Santa Clara California, United States
- [Startup Lawyer](https://feeny.ai/job/startup-lawyer-tenstorrent-santa-clara-california-p5tjxhacv4ts) — Santa Clara California, United States
- [Sr. Engineer, Performance Infrastructure (RISC-V)](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-engineer-performance-infrastructure-risc-v-tenstorrent-australia-santa-clara-9aytptgb8jg4) — Australia / Santa Clara California, United States
- [Sr. Engineer, PCB Power Design](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-engineer-pcb-power-design-tenstorrent-toronto-y02fngkjd64z) — Toronto, Canada
- [Sr. Engineer, Mechanical (Tooling Manager)](https://feeny.ai/job/sr-engineer-mechanical-tooling-manager-tenstorrent-new-taipei-city-me4c51gfpehh) — 新北市 New Taipei City, Taiwan
- [Datacenter Liquid Cooling Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/datacenter-liquid-cooling-architect-tenstorrent-toronto-p91nersbpt3z) — Toronto, Canada
- [Physical Design Engineer, ML4PD](https://feeny.ai/job/physical-design-engineer-ml4pd-tenstorrent-austin-texas-j8s21av8xh1w) — Austin Texas, United States / Fort Collins Colorado, United States / Santa Clara California, United States
- [Field Application Engineer - AI Software & Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/field-application-engineer-ai-software-hardware-tenstorrent-belgrade-w7h3z7p0q0fp) — Belgrade, Serbia
- [Performance Architect, CPU Cluster](https://feeny.ai/job/performance-architect-cpu-cluster-tenstorrent-santa-clara-california-jfpdkhm1nnxq) — Santa Clara California, United States
- [Field Application Engineer - AI Software & Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/field-application-engineer-ai-software-hardware-tenstorrent-gdansk-pomeranian-7q2sye12p056) — Gdańsk Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland