Senior Physical Design Engineer Jobs in District of Columbia
Senior Physical Design Engineer jobs in District of Columbia concentrate in the defense electronics, federal contracting, and semiconductor IP sectors, where the region's proximity to government customers sustains consistent demand at the lead and staff levels. Most hiring is centered in the greater DC metro, with significant activity in the surrounding Northern Virginia and Maryland corridors, where established employers such as Leidos, Northrop Grumman, and Booz Allen Hamilton maintain large engineering workforces. The most sought-after specialties are timing closure, power grid analysis, and physical verification for custom ASIC and mixed-signal designs. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Showing 5 of 31+ Senior Physical Design Engineer jobs
About Us
Quartermaster is building the world's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like. We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators.
Job Description
We are looking for a Senior Design Engineer who thrives at the intersection of operational complexity, user interface design, and front-end engineering. Reporting to the CTO and working cross-functionally with the Head of Product, you'll live at the intersection of design and engineering—translating high-fidelity design intent into production-quality interfaces that empower analysts and operators in complex maritime environments. You'll build the components, tooling, and prototypes that make mission-critical experiences feel seamless and perform under pressure. Good design here is not cosmetic—it is operationally significant, and requires production-grade technical execution.
Key Responsibilities
Build and ship production-ready UI components from design specs, prioritizing performance, reusability, and scalability across our web portal.
Develop and maintain our design system as living code—keeping design tokens, component libraries (React/TypeScript), and documentation in sync across our maritime intelligence applications.
Prototype novel interactions and data visualizations—including live sensor feeds, event timelines, and tracking dashboards—to pressure-test new product proposals in real, interactive environments.
Bridge design and engineering by implementing high-fidelity features like map interfaces and radar overlays that preserve design intent in high-density data environments.
Build tooling and automation that accelerate the design-to-development workflow between product and core engineering.
Iterate on implementations based on direct operator feedback, field testing, and rigorous performance insights from defense and government customers.
Conduct and synthesize user research to inform technical design decisions, turning complex maritime workflows into highly performant and clear user journeys.
Establish and enforce accessibility standards (WCAG), performance optimization guidelines, and responsive design practices across the front-end repository.
Qualifications (Preferred)
5+ years of experience in product design, UI/UX engineering, or front-end design engineering, paired with a designer's eye and a portfolio demonstrating mastery of data-rich web application interfaces.
Strong front-end engineering competencies: Deep fluency in HTML, CSS/Tailwind, and modern JavaScript/TypeScript, with hands-on experience building components in React.
Deep proficiency in Figma, including advanced component libraries, auto-layout, token management, and the tooling that keeps code components consistent with their design source of truth.
A strong visual design foundation—typography, color, layout, and hierarchy—especially when designing for dense, operationally critical environments where information clarity and software performance are non-negotiable.
Fluency in UX principles: interaction design, information architecture, and the technical ability to translate complex data workflows into simple, intuitive interfaces.
Experience designing and building geospatial or map-based interfaces; comfort handling layered, overlapping data visualizations and Canvas/WebGL rendering paradigms.
Comfort working in iterative processes, incorporating user research, field feedback, and performance data to refine and evolve your work.
Bonus Points:
Experience designing for defense, maritime, aviation, or other mission-critical operational domains requiring precision, clarity, and real-world impact.
Background in designing for data visualization, sensor dashboards, or real-time monitoring systems.
Experience with motion design, micro-interactions, or advanced layout automation for operational interfaces.
Work Environment
Distributed team environment working asynchronously.
Start-up atmosphere with autonomy given to engineers
In office and flexible hours
Compensation Range: $180K - $230K
About Us
Quartermaster is building the world's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like. We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators.
Job Description
We are looking for a Senior Design Engineer who thrives at the intersection of operational complexity, user interface design, and front-end engineering. Reporting to the CTO and working cross-functionally with the Head of Product, you'll live at the intersection of design and engineering—translating high-fidelity design intent into production-quality interfaces that empower analysts and operators in complex maritime environments. You'll build the components, tooling, and prototypes that make mission-critical experiences feel seamless and perform under pressure. Good design here is not cosmetic—it is operationally significant, and requires production-grade technical execution.
Key Responsibilities
Build and ship production-ready UI components from design specs, prioritizing performance, reusability, and scalability across our web portal.
Develop and maintain our design system as living code—keeping design tokens, component libraries (React/TypeScript), and documentation in sync across our maritime intelligence applications.
Prototype novel interactions and data visualizations—including live sensor feeds, event timelines, and tracking dashboards—to pressure-test new product proposals in real, interactive environments.
Bridge design and engineering by implementing high-fidelity features like map interfaces and radar overlays that preserve design intent in high-density data environments.
Build tooling and automation that accelerate the design-to-development workflow between product and core engineering.
Iterate on implementations based on direct operator feedback, field testing, and rigorous performance insights from defense and government customers.
Conduct and synthesize user research to inform technical design decisions, turning complex maritime workflows into highly performant and clear user journeys.
Establish and enforce accessibility standards (WCAG), performance optimization guidelines, and responsive design practices across the front-end repository.
Qualifications (Preferred)
5+ years of experience in product design, UI/UX engineering, or front-end design engineering, paired with a designer's eye and a portfolio demonstrating mastery of data-rich web application interfaces.
Strong front-end engineering competencies: Deep fluency in HTML, CSS/Tailwind, and modern JavaScript/TypeScript, with hands-on experience building components in React.
Deep proficiency in Figma, including advanced component libraries, auto-layout, token management, and the tooling that keeps code components consistent with their design source of truth.
A strong visual design foundation—typography, color, layout, and hierarchy—especially when designing for dense, operationally critical environments where information clarity and software performance are non-negotiable.
Fluency in UX principles: interaction design, information architecture, and the technical ability to translate complex data workflows into simple, intuitive interfaces.
Experience designing and building geospatial or map-based interfaces; comfort handling layered, overlapping data visualizations and Canvas/WebGL rendering paradigms.
Comfort working in iterative processes, incorporating user research, field feedback, and performance data to refine and evolve your work.
Bonus Points:
Experience designing for defense, maritime, aviation, or other mission-critical operational domains requiring precision, clarity, and real-world impact.
Background in designing for data visualization, sensor dashboards, or real-time monitoring systems.
Experience with motion design, micro-interactions, or advanced layout automation for operational interfaces.
Work Environment
Distributed team environment working asynchronously.
Start-up atmosphere with autonomy given to engineers
In office and flexible hours
Compensation Range: $180K - $230K
See All 31 Senior Physical Design Engineer Jobs in District of Columbia
Find roles in District of Columbia that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find JobsSenior Physical Design Engineer Jobs by City in District of Columbia
Where District of Columbia roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Senior Physical Design Engineer Job Market in District of Columbia
A snapshot from current District of Columbia openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- KBR2
- Booz Allen Hamilton2
- NPR1
- GuROO1
- Bohler1
Top Industries Hiring
- Consulting & Professional Services6
- Aerospace & Defense2
- Technology & Software1
- Marketing & Advertising1
- Construction & Real Estate1
What District of Columbia Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in senior physical design engineer jobs across District of Columbia.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in electrical engineering or a closely related field required
- Proficiency in Cadence Innovus, Synopsys ICC2, or comparable commercial place-and-route tools
- Hands-on experience with timing closure, static timing analysis, and constraint development
- Demonstrated expertise in physical verification including DRC, LVS, and antenna checks
- Experience supporting tape-out flows for advanced-node or custom ASIC designs
- Active security clearance or eligibility to obtain one preferred by many DC-area employers
Senior Physical Design Engineer Jobs in District of Columbia: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a senior physical design engineer in District of Columbia?
A Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or computer engineering is the standard entry point, with most senior roles in the DC market requiring a Master's degree or equivalent depth of experience. Because the dominant employers are federal contractors and defense electronics firms, candidates who progress into senior roles typically do so by owning full physical implementation flows and achieving tape-out credits. A DoD security clearance, while not a formal license, functions as a practical credential that significantly accelerates advancement with DC-area employers.
How much do senior physical design engineers make in District of Columbia?
Senior physical design engineers in District of Columbia earn a median of about $163,360 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $100,690 for the lowest 10% to over $211,950 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire senior physical design engineers in District of Columbia?
Employers hiring senior physical design engineers in District of Columbia right now include KBR, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NPR, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of July 2026. The DC metro's concentration of defense and intelligence contractors means many of these openings sit within programs that develop custom ASICs and embedded processing hardware for government customers.
Which District of Columbia cities have the most senior physical design engineer jobs?
The cities with the most senior physical design engineer openings in District of Columbia are Washington, Washington Navy Yard, and Naval Research Laboratory. The distribution reflects the dense cluster of federal contractors and defense prime integrators anchored in the greater DC metro, where proximity to government program offices and clearance-holding talent pools drives the bulk of engineering hiring across the region.
Are there remote senior physical design engineer jobs in District of Columbia?
Yes, but they're rare. About 53% of senior physical design engineer openings tied to District of Columbia are remote or hybrid as of July 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves proprietary EDA tool environments, controlled lab access, and classified program requirements. The portions of the role most amenable to remote work are timing analysis, scripting, and design review, while hands-on verification and tape-out coordination typically require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a senior physical design engineer in District of Columbia with little or no experience?
The most realistic path is to join a DC-area defense contractor or federal IT services firm as a junior physical design or layout engineer, roles that large employers such as Leidos and Northrop Grumman fill through new-graduate hiring programs tied to local universities like George Mason and the University of Maryland. Building proficiency in one major place-and-route tool, contributing to a tape-out under a senior mentor, and initiating the security clearance process early are the concrete steps that move candidates from associate to mid-level and ultimately into senior positions in this market.
Where can I find and apply to senior physical design engineer jobs in District of Columbia?
You can find and apply to senior physical design engineer jobs in District of Columbia on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings across the DC metro and surrounding defense and federal contracting hubs. Search the listings to find roles that match your background and experience level, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 31 Senior Physical Design Engineer Jobs in District of Columbia
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