Senior Systems Prototyping and Emulation Engineer
NVIDIA
Opportunity published from Workday · applications stay with the original hiring source.
About the opportunity
- We are looking for a Senior Systems Prototyping and Emulation Engineer to join our Emulation team onsite in Santa Clara, CA.
You will craft FPGA prototypes and hardware emulation environments for next-generation GPUs, SOCs, NICs, and Switches using industry-standard platforms, helping to make them faster, more scalable, and more efficient.
- This role requires working in a fast-paced environment involving cross-geographical team coordination and daily complex problem-solving.
You will enable pre-silicon software development, validation, and performance analysis by building and supporting advanced emulation and prototyping environments.
Key responsibilities
- Build FPGA prototypes and hardware emulation environments by making RTL friendly, partitioning designs, and managing synthesis, place-and-route, and emulator compilation flows.
- Improve performance of FPGA prototypes and emulation platforms, analyze timing and performance bottlenecks, and generate bitstreams and images.
- Bring up designs on FPGA prototyping and hardware emulation platforms and drive complex debug and problem-solving activities.
- Release prototypes and emulation environments to internal customers and support them through debug, validation, and software enablement.
- Understand design implementations, define configurations, develop and modify bring-up and testing infrastructure, and verify design correctness.
- Understand complex system topologies with multiple ASICs to realize DGX systems on prototyping platforms and emulators.
- Work closely with architects, designers, verification engineers, validation teams, and software teams to accomplish project goals.
- Enable pre-silicon software development, validation, and performance analysis using FPGA prototypes and hardware emulation environments.
- Develop and optimize emulation-friendly validation infrastructures, including high-performance software interfaces and scalable debug methodologies.
Qualifications
- BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields with 8+ years of experience, or MS with 6+ years of proven experience in FPGA prototyping and/or hardware emulation.
- Strong understanding of FPGA prototyping and hardware emulation architectures, devices, flows, and tools.
- Hands-on experience with Synopsys ProtoCompiler or Synplify Premier, Xilinx Vivado, and familiarity with emulation platforms such as Synopsys ZeBu or Siemens Veloce.
- Exposure to ASIC design and verification tools (VCS or equivalent, Verdi, GDB).
- Knowledge of Verilog, SystemVerilog, and digital design concepts.
- Understanding of industry-standard protocols such as PCIe, CXL, NVLINK, USB, CHI, and CPU-GPU coherency.
- Hands-on experience with lab FPGA debug methodologies, tools (Identify or ChipScope), and lab debug equipment (oscilloscopes, logic analyzers).
- Strong expertise in developing and optimizing emulation-friendly C/C++ testbenches and transactors that operate efficiently at emulation speeds, minimizing host-emulator communication bottlenecks and improving transaction throughput.
- Ability to develop efficient DPI/PLI/SystemC-based interfaces and software infrastructures that enable high-speed validation, debug, and bring-up on hardware emulation platforms.
Nice to have
- Scripting knowledge in Perl, shell, Tcl, or Python.
- Good documentation, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Experience with memory bring-up of LPDDR5/6, DDR5/6, CXL/PCIe, and/or high-speed interfaces such as USB4/3.
- Prior experience with hardware emulation or prototyping platforms (Synopsys HAPS, ZeBu, Siemens Veloce) of a high-performance processor or SOC.
- Understanding of performance-sensitive validation methodologies for large-scale emulation environments, including efficient logging, synchronization, memory handling, and protocol traffic generation.
Benefits
- Eligible for equity.
- Comprehensive benefits package.
Job details
- Location: Santa Clara, CA (On-site)
- Base salary range: 168,000 USD - 264,500 USD for Level 4, and 196,000 USD - 310,500 USD for Level 5 (determined based on location, experience, and peer pay).
- Application deadline: Applications will be accepted at least until October 10, 2026.
About the company
- NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself over two decades, starting with the invention of the GPU in 1999, which sparked the PC gaming market, redefined computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing.
- More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI, representing the next era of computing as NVIDIA evolves to tackle hard, world-changing problems.
- NVIDIA is dedicated to amplifying human imagination and intelligence through its life's work.
Additional information
- This posting is for an existing vacancy.
- NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.
Application: UpVagas lists this opportunity from the hiring company or its recruitment platform. The application is completed at the original source.
Key details from the source
- Experience enabling pre-silicon software validation, firmware bring-up, or system-level debug on emulation platforms.
Full listing
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