Founding Chip/Software Engineer

About Silimate

Silimate is the copilot for chip designers.

Chip teams today are still relying on workflows that haven't evolved in 30 years, leading to 12-18 month design cycles and slow innovation. Silimate is changing that. Our AI-powered chip design copilot helps engineers create correct, PPA-optimized RTL code from the start-cutting months from tapeout schedules and moving toward fully autonomous spec-to-design workflows.

We're generating significant revenue, already working with billion-dollar enterprises and leading chip startups, and are backed by top-tier investors. If you want to transform how the entire chip industry designs silicon, we'd love to talk.

About the Role

We're looking for a Founding Engineer with deep experience in VLSI front-end design and strong coding skills to help us build the future of chip design automation. You'll be one of our first engineers-owning product direction, writing and shipping production code, and helping define both our technical foundation and company culture.

Who You Are

You're driven to reinvent the way chips are built, enabling 100x faster design cycles through AI and automation. You take ownership, work fast, and care deeply about the quality and impact of your work. You thrive in scrappy, ambitious environments where aggressive goals are the norm-and you're eager to see your work make a real-world difference.

What You'll Do

• Write production-grade code (Python/C++) that ships to Silimate's 10+ chip/IP customers

• Make core architectural decisions for key product features

• Translate real user feedback into product improvements and new capabilities

• Work directly with the founders to plan roadmap and strategy

• Collaborate with chip engineers and EDA experts to push the frontier of AI for hardware design

Minimum Requirements

• Passionate about chips and AI for EDA

• Experience designing ASICs using SystemVerilog and synthesis/verification tools (open-source or commercial)

• Familiar with common front-end EDA tools

• Strong skills in Python and C++ with a focus on shipping fast, reliable code

• Basic knowledge of statistics and AI/ML methods

• Resourceful, data-driven, and motivated by first-principles problem solving

Ideal Qualifications

• One or more tapeouts (especially on advanced process nodes)

• Contributions to open-source EDA or hardware design projects

• Deep understanding of PPA optimization and functional correctness convergence

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity package

• Full health, vision, dental, and 401(k) benefits

• Team meals and close collaboration with founders

• Ground-floor opportunity with massive industry impact