Block-level DTCO R&D team leader

As the team leader of the block-level DTCO team, you will work on the cutting edge of advanced CMOS technologies and you will contribute towards their evaluation and benchmarking, optimizing design and block level aspects to fully utilize future technologies. This is a dual role, where individual contributions will be required as well as management of the dynamic block-level DTCO team.

What you will do

As an R&D team leader, you will work on mentoring your team members, help in their professional development and work towards a high job satisfaction. Further cultivating the already strong team spirit and extending best practices that can be used by everyone is a very important part of this role. You will also be responsible for the resource planning of the team and make sure that team commitments to various research projects are feasible and within the research interests of the team.

As a Researcher, you will evaluate through physical design experiments the impact of various technology options (device, standard cell architecture, back-end of line, etc.) on the power, performance, and area of different SoCs (or submodules thereof). Throughout the physical design experiments, you analyse the impact of said technology options to circuit-level aspects of the designs (e.g., critical paths, clock trees, power grids, etc.). You contribute to the development of automated flows with which the physical design experiments are conducted. You go beyond the current capabilities of the tools and work together with EDA partners to get tools ready for the future nodes, e.g., to enable novel power grid solutions, or 3D stacked designs etc. Furthermore, you interact with universities on development of new micro-architecture concepts that leverage novel technology capabilities.

What we do for you

We offer you the opportunity to join one of the world’s premier research centers in nanotechnology at its headquarters in Leuven, Belgium or in Cambridge, UK. With your talent, passion and expertise, you’ll become part of a team that makes the impossible possible. Together, we shape the technology that will determine the society of tomorrow.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and proud of our open, multicultural, and informal working environment with ample possibilities to take initiative and show responsibility. We commit to supporting and guiding you in this process; not only with words but also with tangible actions. Through imec.academy, 'our corporate university', we actively invest in your development to further your technical and personal growth.

We are aware that your valuable contribution makes imec a top player in its field. Your energy and commitment are therefore appreciated by means of a market appropriate salary with many fringe benefits.

Who you are

• You have a PhD in Electronics or Electrical Engineering, or relevant field, or a M.Sc. with at least 3 years of relevant industrial experience in physical design.
• You deeply care about efficient and creative team culture.
• You have an excellent understanding of digital physical implementation and advanced CMOS technologies.
• You are a proficient user of EDA tools (Cadence and/or Synopsys) .
• You are detail-oriented but are also comfortable in critical thinking and making decisions to navigate the changing R&D demands.
• You deeply care about efficient and creative team culture.
• You are a capable coder that utilizes the power of versioning and documentation.
• You are a strong team player and a good communicator. Sharing the progress of tasks, seeking feedback from your colleagues, and acting as a soundboard, is important to you.
• Previous team leading experience is a plus.

For imec UK: this position is open only to candidates who already hold a valid UK residence permit or work authorization. We are currently not able to provide UK visa sponsorship.

Job details

Title
Block-level DTCO R&D team leader

Employer
imec

Location
Kapeldreef 75 Leuven, Belgium

Published
2025-12-19

Application deadline
Unspecified

Job type
Researcher

Field
Electrical Engineering, Electronics