ABOUT ASTRUS

ABOUT ASTRUS

ABOUT ASTRUS

📍 Location: Toronto or Waterloo, Canada


At Astrus, we are using AI to automate microchip design, starting with the biggest bottleneck, analog layout. Our mission is to radically improve global computation and empower chip designers to create the world's most advanced microchips with AI. Astrus is backed by top-tier VC firms: Khosla Ventures, HOF Capital, and 1517 Fund.

📍 Location: Toronto or Waterloo, Canada


At Astrus, we are using AI to automate microchip design, starting with the biggest bottleneck, analog layout. Our mission is to radically improve global computation and empower chip designers to create the world's most advanced microchips with AI. Astrus is backed by top-tier VC firms: Khosla Ventures, HOF Capital, and 1517 Fund.

ABOUT THE ROLE

ABOUT THE ROLE

ABOUT THE ROLE

We’re hiring a Research Scientist to work alongside our research team to push the boundaries of neural network architecture and generalization in simulated physical design.

You’ll take the lead on shaping our core deep learning stack — helping our models learn faster, scale better, and generalize across novel layout challenges. This role is research-heavy and exploratory: you’ll propose and validate new architectures, bring structure to unstructured design problems, and help shape the future of how AI builds physical compute.

You’ll collaborate closely with our reinforcement learning and infra teams, and operate in a highly technical environment with deep autonomy and strong ownership.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in ambiguous settings, moves fast, and cares deeply about elegant ideas and working systems.

We’re hiring a Research Scientist to work alongside our research team to push the boundaries of neural network architecture and generalization in simulated physical design.

You’ll take the lead on shaping our core deep learning stack — helping our models learn faster, scale better, and generalize across novel layout challenges. This role is research-heavy and exploratory: you’ll propose and validate new architectures, bring structure to unstructured design problems, and help shape the future of how AI builds physical compute.

You’ll collaborate closely with our reinforcement learning and infra teams, and operate in a highly technical environment with deep autonomy and strong ownership.

We’re looking for someone who thrives in ambiguous settings, moves fast, and cares deeply about elegant ideas and working systems.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

WHAT YOU WILL DO

WHAT YOU WILL DO

  • Design and experiment with novel neural network architectures tailored to the layout generation problem

  • Improve the generalization of our models across a wide range of simulated analog blocks

  • Propose and lead new research ideas — from hypothesis to implementation

  • Design targeted experiments to validate ideas and explore scaling behaviours

  • Collaborate with RL researchers and engineering leads to shape an end-to-end intelligent system

  • Help maintain a high research bar and push Astrus toward breakthrough capability

  • Design and experiment with novel neural network architectures tailored to the layout generation problem

  • Improve the generalization of our models across a wide range of simulated analog blocks

  • Propose and lead new research ideas — from hypothesis to implementation

  • Design targeted experiments to validate ideas and explore scaling behaviours

  • Collaborate with RL researchers and engineering leads to shape an end-to-end intelligent system

  • Help maintain a high research bar and push Astrus toward breakthrough capability

WHO YOU ARE

WHO YOU ARE

WHO YOU ARE

  • You’re deeply aligned with our values and excited about AI for hardware

  • You’ve built and trained custom neural networks in novel domains — not just used off-the-shelf models

  • You have experience with large-scale deep learning (e.g. transformers, diffusion, or graph models)

  • You bring strong research instincts: curiosity, experimental thinking, and rigor

  • You’re comfortable writing clean well structured research code

  • You work with engineers to transition research code to production including collaborating to define clean interfaces and understanding requirements

  • You have a strong foundation in Python and deep learning frameworks such as JAX, PyTorch or TensorFlow; bonus for experience with JAX, Ray, or GCP

  • MS or PhD in a relevant field (or similar research experience)

  • You’re deeply aligned with our values and excited about AI for hardware

  • You’ve built and trained custom neural networks in novel domains — not just used off-the-shelf models

  • You have experience with large-scale deep learning (e.g. transformers, diffusion, or graph models)

  • You bring strong research instincts: curiosity, experimental thinking, and rigor

  • You’re comfortable writing clean well structured research code

  • You work with engineers to transition research code to production including collaborating to define clean interfaces and understanding requirements

  • You have a strong foundation in Python and deep learning frameworks such as JAX, PyTorch or TensorFlow; bonus for experience with JAX, Ray, or GCP

  • MS or PhD in a relevant field (or similar research experience)

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS

You’ll be joining a small, technical, high-talent-density team tackling a problem that deeply matters. Our ambition is enormous, and we’re just getting started.

This role comes with generous equity, full benefits, and the opportunity to lead at the frontier of deep learning and physical design.

You’ll be joining a small, technical, high-talent-density team tackling a problem that deeply matters. Our ambition is enormous, and we’re just getting started.

This role comes with generous equity, full benefits, and the opportunity to lead at the frontier of deep learning and physical design.

Ready to radically improve global computation? 🚀📈🌎 🤖

Ready to radically improve global computation? 🚀📈🌎 🤖

Reach out to careers@astrus.ai or Steph Hector for more details

Reach out to careers@astrus.ai or Steph Hector for more details