Staff Physical STA Expert

Location: Israel

Department: ASIC Engineering

Role Overview

Astera Labs is establishing a strategic R&D center in Israel to drive the development of complex semiconductor chips that solve the critical 'data bottlenecks' enabling the future of AI at scale. As we expand our presence in Israel, we're seeking a visionary Staff Physical STA Expert to help build our local engineering powerhouse from the ground up. This is a unique opportunity to take on meaningful product ownership in a new site, defining the sign-off methodology for chips that power the world's most advanced AI clusters.

As a Staff Physical STA Expert , you will hold the keys to silicon success. You will be leading the STA activities end-to-end from Chip partition, Time budgeting through signoff of all the chips we develop. You will build and lead the STA team to run several chips signoffs in parallel. In addition, You will define the sign-off methodology for chips that power the world’s most advanced AI clusters. You will act as the central nervous system of the design process, bridging the gap between Architecture, Design, DFT, and Physical Design to ensure our high-performance silicon meets the aggressive timing targets required for next-generation connectivity. 

Key Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the STA flow and sign-off methodologies. You will establish the rigorous criteria that ensure our products succeed in the most demanding data center environments 
• Collaborate closely with Architecture, Design, DFT, and Backend teams. You will lead timing reviews and work closely with block owners to navigate the path to sign-off convergence 
• Develop, optimize, and manage complex SDC constraints from the ground up, ensuring they are robust across multi-scenario environments 
• Tackle the challenges of cross-chip clock distribution networks and sophisticated margining techniques, ensuring robust silicon across all process corners 
• Have a passion for better workflows? You’ll participate in design methodology improvements and tool automation, utilizing both industry-standard EDA tools and in-house automation to make our sign-off process faster and smarter 

Basic Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering 
• 8+ years of deep, hands-on experience in Static Timing Analysis (STA) at leading semiconductor companies, specifically working on advanced process technologies 
• Deep expertise in multi-scenario STA, timing/SDC constraint development and verification. You have a "full-chip" perspective, managing both complex macro-level designs and top-level integration 
• Solid understanding of advanced margining methodologies, including OCV, AOCV, and POCV, from synthesis through to final sign-off 
• Solid knowledge of physical design flows (P&R, Physical Verification) and how they intersect with timing closure 

Preferred Experience

• Experience developing and validating constraints using industry-standard tools like Timing Constraints Manager (Synopsys) or TimeVision (Ausdia) 
• Proven track record of managing both complex Macro-level designs and Full-Chip timing integration 
• Strong background in scripting and automation to enhance timing closure efficiency