About the role
Opportunity Overview
Handshake is looking for experienced Semiconductor and Chip Design Engineers to support AI research through flexible, part-time contract work. This is not a traditional engineering role—you’ll draw on your hands-on industry experience in chip design, EDA, VLSI, semiconductor process engineering, or verification to evaluate AI-generated content and provide feedback that helps AI reason like a practicing chip engineer.
This is an ongoing, project-based opportunity that you can take on alongside your current role.
What You’ll Do
Create expert-level semiconductor and chip engineering problems and scenarios grounded in real design, verification, implementation, fabrication, and tape-out workflows
Review AI-generated responses for technical accuracy, practical feasibility, and alignment with industry standards and engineering practice
Evaluate designs, methodologies, assumptions, and recommendations involving digital and analog IC design, RTL, verification, physical design, EDA flows, semiconductor processes, and related topics
Assess AI-generated technical work across areas such as synthesis, simulation, timing analysis, physical implementation, design-rule checking, layout, verification, and tape-out
Provide clear, structured written feedback to help improve AI model performance
Complete tasks at your own pace, with no set schedule or minimum-hour requirement
Project Details
Work remotely and asynchronously from wherever you are.
Set your own schedule with no minimum time requirement.
Project placement depends on current availability. If this opportunity is full, additional projects will become available soon.
Qualifications
Ideal candidates meet all three of the following:
Industry experience — 2+ years of hands-on chip design, semiconductor, or related engineering experience in industry
Degree — MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a closely related field. A BS in Electrical or Computer Engineering also qualifies when paired with strong industry experience
Chip and semiconductor expertise — demonstrated depth in one or more of the following areas:
Digital or analog IC design
VLSI and RTL design
Functional or formal verification
Physical design, place and route, and timing closure
EDA tools and semiconductor design flows
Semiconductor fabrication and process engineering
Design-for-test (DFT), synthesis, or implementation
Layout, design-rule checking, and tape-out
ASIC, SoC, FPGA, or related chip development
Additional Qualifications
These are not required but will strengthen your application:
Proficiency with industry-standard EDA and chip-design tools such as Cadence Virtuoso, Innovus, Synopsys Design Compiler, PrimeTime, VCS, Mentor/Siemens Calibre, ModelSim/Questa, Vivado, Quartus, or comparable tools
Experience with Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL, SPICE, or other hardware-description and circuit-simulation languages
Experience with synthesis, static timing analysis, place and route, physical verification, DRC/LVS, parasitic extraction, or other production semiconductor workflows
Experience with formal verification, UVM, simulation, coverage analysis, or other verification methodologies
Experience with semiconductor process technologies, foundry design rules, PDKs, yield analysis, or process integration
Experience at a semiconductor manufacturer, chip-design company, EDA company, engineering consultancy, or recognized employer such as Intel, NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Apple, Arm, Synopsys, Cadence, or Siemens EDA
Required for All Applicants
Based in the United States
Strong written communication and attention to detail
Ability to explain complex semiconductor and chip-design concepts clearly
Ability to work independently in a remote, asynchronous environment