Applied AI Engineer - VLSI Design

An opportunity at NVIDIA in Santa Clara, CA (hybrid) centers on an Applied AI Engineer role with a focus on VLSI design. The position combines developing and deploying AI and agentic solutions to support VLSI engineering flows and CAD systems, translating advanced AI capabilities into practical engineering tools and workflows. The role offers a salary range of USD 136,000 to 264,500 per year and requires a Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering or Computer Science/Engineering, with at least five years of industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and deployment of AI applications using LLMs, internal and external Agentic frameworks, and related technologies.
• Build the infrastructure to deploy LLM-powered engineering assistants and multi-turn, multi-modal dialogue systems to drive impact.
• Create agentic AI solutions to tackle complex VLSI engineering problems and integrate them with CAD flow systems.
• Utilize AI to improve efficiency in solving challenging chip design problems.
• Develop and maintain design databases and dashboards that employ agentic and deterministic retrieval to surface pertinent engineering data and accelerate circuit design closure.
• Collaborate with circuit design, layout, technology, and third-party EDA vendor teams across geographies and time zones.

Requirements

• Master’s or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of proven industry experience in a related field.
• Proficiency in rapid prototyping with Python and solid foundations in data structures, algorithms, and software engineering principles.
• Experience fine-tuning large language models, building advanced multi-agent systems, RAG pipelines, and vector databases.
• Strong analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to thrive in dynamic, product-focused, distributed teams.
• Proactive problem-solving approach and willingness to acquire new skills as needed to achieve results.

Technologies

• Python
• Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Agentic frameworks
• RAG pipelines
• Vector databases
• CAD flow systems

Benefits

• Equity
• Benefits package

Ways to Stand Out

• Experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and their applications in software and AI development
• Proficiency in standard software development methodologies, including version control, testing, and CI/CD
• Deep interest in learning diverse concepts and combining them in innovative ways
• Prior experience with circuit design or hardware design is a plus