Lecturer in Analogue and Mixed-Signal IC Design in Sheffield

Overview

The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering seeks to appoint a Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) in Analogue and Mixed‑Signal IC Design, with specific expertise in analogue and mixed‑signal circuit design, including analogue VLSI design, sensor interfacing, low‑power mixed‑signal systems, and related integrated semiconductor technologies.

We are seeking a circuit designer with deep systems‑context understanding — capable of leading circuit‑level decisions within the integrated systems those circuits inhabit, including signal‑chain partitioning, power and thermal trade‑offs, data‑conversion interfaces, and integration into heterogeneous semiconductor systems.

We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in designing, implementing and validating analogue or mixed‑signal integrated circuits, including participation in silicon tape‑outs through industrial product development or academic multi‑project‑wafer programmes (e. g.

Europractice, e Fabless, Tiny Tapeout).

Experience that combines systems‑level understanding with hands‑on circuit design is particularly welcomed; expertise spanning RF circuits, power management, sensor interfaces, mixed‑signal system integration, or analogue subsystems within heterogeneous systems is valued.

We are advertising two related lectureships in parallel as part of this recruitment round: this post in Analogue and Mixed‑Signal IC Design, and an affiliated post in Microelectronic Systems Design and Implementation.

Candidates whose interests and experience span both areas are welcome to apply for both positions.

We particularly welcome applicants whose careers have bridged from materials, devices, sensors, photonics, or related hardware technologies into circuit, system, or integration work.

The focus is strictly on the devices‑to‑systems direction, translating established device technologies into deployable circuits, subsystems and integrated semiconductor systems rather than novel process or device development.

Your home in the School

You will join the Circuits and Systems group within the Semiconductor and Quantum Technologies Research Theme, one of the UK's largest and most successful research environments spanning semiconductor devices, integrated circuits, heterogeneous integration, system co‑design and integrated semiconductor systems, with longstanding partnerships across UK and international industry, extensive experimental facilities, and a sustained record of industrial collaboration.

The theme hosts Sheffield's leadership role and the Engineering and Innovation Office for the newly established national Innovation and Knowledge Centre in Heterogeneous Integration, CHIMES², the Centre for Heterogeneous Integrated Micro Electronic and Semiconductor Systems, supported by £16.3M over five years.

CHIMES² is led by the University of Sheffield and brings together partner universities including Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle, Strathclyde, Queen's University Belfast and King's College London, alongside the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Industrial partners include, among others, Imec, Arm, Pragmatic, Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA.

Role Summary

This is an academic lectureship centred on building your own internationally recognised research programme, contributing to teaching across our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and supervising doctoral students.

CHIMES² provides a powerful national platform to accelerate that research career, and the successful candidate will, in turn, contribute substantively to CHIMES² delivery.

The candidate is expected to have a strong academic track record and the potential to conduct world‑class research in one or more of the following areas.

• Research Areas
• Analogue and mixed‑signal ICs for heterogeneous semiconductor systems.
• Sensor interfaces, low‑power analogue front‑ends, power management, and mixed‑signal architectures, including power/thermal trade‑offs and system technology co‑optimisation (STCO).
• Design‑for‑test, post‑silicon validation and characterisation.
• Security, trust and resilience techniques for integrated systems.
• Design for heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging.

We recognise that no individual candidate will necessarily span all of these areas.

Strong expertise in analogue or mixed‑signal IC design is essential; complementary expertise in one or more of the above areas is welcomed.

• Beyond CHIMES²
• Enhancing our research capability in microelectronics and chip design, and supporting and improving teaching quality and student experience across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the school.
• Strengthening partnerships with industry, government, and research organisations across computing and consumer electronics, AI, data, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and biomedical devices, energy, defence and security, and aerospace sectors.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

In your role as a Lecturer, you will contribute to the School through the following duties and responsibilities.

• Research
• Conduct personal research of international standing independently and collaboratively.
• Maintain a strong academic and professional profile through national and international engagement and high‑quality publications.
• Develop an internationally leading research programme and engage with industry and policy partners to shape the future of engineering and science.
• Secure external funding to support future research activity and build an independent research group, including the supervision of Ph D students to successful completion.
• Teaching
• Design, develop, and deliver teaching on modules across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including coordinating team teaching to ensure high‑quality delivery; preparing teaching materials; communicating subject matter; and encouraging critical discourse and rational thinking.
• Carry out module assessments, including designing assessment instruments and criteria; marking assessments, ensuring adequate moderation; providing written/oral feedback; and collating and issuing final student assessments.
• Supervise and assess UG and PG dissertation students.
• Carry out module evaluation, including facilitating student feedback, reflecting on own teaching design and delivery, and implementing ideas to improve own performance.
• Leadership
• Contribute to the life of the School, Faculty and wider University community by taking on leadership roles and responsibilities where required, and contributing to committee work and the development of relevant policies.
• Make ethical decisions in your role, modelling inclusive and collegiate behaviour, and embedding the University’s sustainability strategy into your working activities wherever possible.
• Contribute fully as a researcher, teacher and leader, fulfilling the appropriate requirements of the University’s Academic Career Pathway Framework (ACP).

Person Specification

Our community welcomes diverse backgrounds and experiences.

We particularly encourage applications from candidates currently working in industrial R&D environments who are seeking to transition into academia, and from candidates whose research has bridged materials, devices, sensors or photonics into circuit, system or integration domains.

Even if your past experience doesn’t match perfectly with this role’s criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply.

Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Applicants Must Provide The Following Documents When Making Their Application.

• CV (including a list of publications)
• Research Vision Statement
• Teaching Vision Statement
• A statement of published outputs in which you identify your three best peer‑reviewed publications.

For one of these you should provide a short statement of no more than 100 words describing the originality, significance and rigour of the paper.

Essential Criteria

• Have completed or be near to completion of a Ph D (or have equivalent experience) in a relevant research area related to analogue or mixed‑signal circuit design, integrated circuit design, or closely related microelectronics systems engineering.

Candidates with a materials or device‑physics background are welcome where they can demonstrate clear experience of circuit design or system‑level implementation; pure novel‑device or process‑development research without a circuits/systems component is outside the scope of this post.

• Research experience and reputation commensurate with career stage and role as evidenced by a good publication record in peer‑reviewed journals or, for candidates from industry, evidence of research outputs and achievements which demonstrate the skills required to publish high‑quality research in the future.
• Ability/potential to develop and lead an independent research group in a relevant research area.
• Experience of formal/informal supervision of students, technical staff and/or research staff.
• Ability to develop, deliver and assess high‑quality teaching at a variety of levels.
• Being able to communicate well, conveying ideas and concepts clearly and effectively as well as a high level of analytical capability.
• Good leadership skills and ability to work in a multidisciplinary team.
• Being supportive and tolerant when communicating and working with colleagues, students and external collaborators.
• Experience leading or contributing meaningfully to the design, implementation and verification of analogue or mixed‑signal integrated circuits, ideally through to tape‑out.
• Experience of preparing research funding applications for submission, including clear and feasible plans to secure research income from a variety of funding streams.

Desirable Criteria

• Familiarity with industry‑standard EDA tools (e. g. Cadence, Siemens EDA, Synopsys) and/or open‑source equivalents.
• Knowledge of design‑for‑test (DFT) methodologies and test/debug architectures for analogue, digital and integrated systems, and proficiency with the firmware and control interfaces used to characterise and exercise analogue subsystems.
• Broad knowledge of integrated system components, including sensor devices, power electronics, and analogue/mixed‑signal subsystems; understanding of thermal management, power distribution network design, system technology co‑optimisation (STCO), and co‑design of logical and physical layers.

Awareness of packaging and manufacturing pathways (e. g.

Si P, multi‑chip module, wafer‑level packaging) is desirable.

Experience applying AI/ML to EDA workflows is a benefit, but real tape‑out and production experience takes precedence.

• Further Information
• Grade: 8

Salary: £48,822‑£58,225 per annum (with the potential to progress to £65,509 per annum through sustained excellent contribution)

• Work arrangement: Full time
• Duration: Open Ended
• Line Manager: Academic Line Manager (n/a)

Benefits

• A minimum of 41 days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (e. g. Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development, access to learning and mentoring schemes; integrated with our Academic Career Pathways.
• A range of generous family‑friendly policies including paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies, support for those going through the menopause, paid time off and support for fertility treatment, and more.
• Contact

For informal enquiries about this job contact Professor John Goodenough via email at n. j. goodenough@sheffield. ac. uk

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