Electric has a number of placement tools that can rearrange a circuit so that routing is easier. The tools can handle schematic or layout cells.

To run placement, use the Place Current Cell command (in menu Tools / Placement).

The Placement Preferences (in menu File / Preferences..., "Tools" section, "Placement" tab) let you control which placement algorithm to use. It also lets you control specific preferences for each algorithm.

These are the possible placement algorithms:

Algorithm | Placer | Notes
Simulated Annealing | #1 | Not recommended for use
#2 | Has best overall results. Recommended runtime: 5 minutes
Genetic | #1 | Needs long runtime. Additional threads do not help
#2
Force Directed | #1 | Gives good results quickly (seconds). Additional time and threads does not improve results
#2 | Recommended for highly-symmetric cell layouts. For example pads or memory
Min-cut | Simple placer that does not use multiple threads
Simple and Random | Places linearly/randomly: not recommended