Timing Engineer

About Altera

At Altera™, our independence as the world’s largest pure‑play FPGA solutions provider gives us the focus, speed, and agility to innovate without compromise. With more than four decades of industry‑leading FPGA expertise, our singular mission is to deliver the programmable technologies that help customers differentiate, innovate, and scale across rapidly evolving markets like AI, cloud, networking, and edge. As an independent company, we move faster, invest deeper, and partner more closely—empowering our teams to drive breakthrough innovation and shape the future of the FPGA industry.

About the Role

Altera is seeking a Timing Engineer to join our Physical Design organization. In this role, you will lead timing activities for a subsystem, partnering closely with the Design, Architecture, and Physical Design teams to achieve timing convergence from implementation through final sign-off.

The ideal candidate brings strong expertise in static timing analysis (STA), timing constraints, and timing closure methodologies, with experience working on advanced process technologies. You will play a key role in driving subsystem timing closure, developing timing methodologies, and collaborating across engineering teams to deliver high-quality FPGA products.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive timing closure at block level and sub-system level.

• Developing methodology through flow/scripting which will result in easier interface timing closure at full chip.

• Define and manage I/O timing budgets across hierarchical designs.

• Apply advanced sign-off methodologies at lower nodes, including POCV and PVT effects.

• Provide actionable timing feedback at both block and sub-system levels, including root cause analysis and ECO guidance.

• Manage large-scale multi-corner/multi-mode STA runs with automation, partitioning, and efficient resource usage.

• Generate and validate timing ECOs, partnering with physical design and RTL teams for quick closure.

• Global clock planning for easier interface timing closure.

• Work closely with design, implementation, and full chip teams to drive timing convergence, providing sign-off level expertise and guidance.

Salary Range

The pay range below is for Bay Area California only. Actual salary may vary based on a number of factors including job location, job-related knowledge, skills, experiences, trainings, etc. We also offer incentive opportunities that reward employees based on individual and company performance.

$118,900 - $172,000 USD

We use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants for the position. Applicants must be eligible for any required U.S. export authorizations.

#LI-MD1

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field and 5+ years of experience in ASIC or FPGA timing analysis and sign-off.

• 5+ years of experience in timing analysis, static timing analysis (STA), and timing sign-off.

• 5+ years of experience with timing constraints, STA methodologies, and timing closure at both the block and full-chip levels.

• 5+ years of experience with synthesis, place-and-route, and parasitic extraction flows.

• 5+ years of experience applying advanced timing concepts for leading-edge semiconductor technologies (5nm or below), including OCV, POCV, and PVT analysis.

• 5+ years of experience performing multi-corner, multi-mode (MCMM) timing analysis.

• 5+ years of experience using industry-standard timing analysis tools such as Cadence Tempus and Synopsys PrimeTime.

• 5+ years of experience developing automation and scripting solutions using Tcl, Python, and/or Perl.

• 5+ years of experience collaborating with RTL Design, Architecture, Physical Design, and Full Chip teams to drive timing closure.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently with strong prioritization, problem-solving, and solution-oriented decision-making skills.

• Experience with advanced FPGA or high-performance ASIC designs.

• Experience developing timing methodologies and automation for large-scale hierarchical designs.

• Experience defining hierarchical timing budgets and driving interface timing closure.

• Experience generating and validating timing ECOs during implementation and sign-off.

• Familiarity with clock tree synthesis (CTS), clock planning, and clock architecture optimization.

• Strong understanding of digital design fundamentals and physical implementation methodologies.

• Excellent analytical, debugging, and root cause analysis skills.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to collaborate across multidisciplinary engineering teams.