Senior Principal Digital Design Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 31, 2026. First seen by Alion on Mar 12, 2026. Astera Labs scores B on the Alion truth index.
Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.
Role Overview
Astera Labs is seeking a Senior Principal Digital Design Engineer to drive the architecture and implementation of next-generation digital designs powering AI infrastructure connectivity. This is a high-impact technical leadership role where you'll define micro-architecture strategies for better power, performance and area tradeoff, own complex chip-level design decisions, and guide multiple blocks from concept through silicon bring-up for industry-leading products supporting PCIe Gen 6/7, CXL, UALink, UCI, Ethernet, and DDR4/DDR5 protocols.
As a senior technical leader, you'll shape design methodologies, mentor engineering teams, and collaborate cross-functionally with verification, physical design, DFT, and post-silicon teams to deliver high-performance, production-quality silicon. You'll also influence roadmap decisions and drive design excellence across the organization, ensuring Astera Labs continues to set the standard for AI connectivity solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Architecture & Technical Leadership
- Define and drive micro-architecture for complex digital blocks and subsystems across multiple product lines
- Establish architectural standards and best practices that scale across the design organization
- Provide technical guidance and decision-making on critical design trade-offs impacting performance, power, and area
- Design Execution & Ownership
- Lead RTL implementation of complex designs from architecture definition through GDS and silicon bring-up
- Drive timing constraints and closure strategies and implement robust Design-for-Test (DFT) methodologies
- Own accountability for design quality, schedule, and successful production delivery
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with verification teams to develop comprehensive test plans, achieve coverage closure, and debug complex issues
- Collaborate with physical design, DFT, and post-silicon teams to ensure seamless integration and bring-up
- Work with firmware and software teams to optimize hardware-software interfaces
- Mentorship & Process Excellence
- Mentor and develop junior and senior engineers, elevating team technical capabilities
- Drive continuous improvement of silicon development processes, CAD automation, and design infrastructure
- Contribute to organizational knowledge sharing and technical reviews
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent
- 12+ years of hands-on experience developing complex SoC/silicon products in Server, Storage, and/or Networking markets
- Demonstrated expertise in architecture definition, micro-architecture development, RTL coding, synthesis, and timing closure
- Deep knowledge of at least one high-speed protocol: PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, DDR, or similar
- Production experience with advanced CMOS nodes (≤7nm)
- Proficiency with Cadence and/or Synopsys digital design flows
- Track record of delivering multiple high-performance designs to production
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field
- Experience with multiple high-speed protocols (PCIe Gen 5/6, CXL, UALink, Ethernet, DDR4/DDR5)
- Hands-on collaboration with embedded firmware teams and familiarity with RISC-V or Arm subsystems
- Proven contributions to design methodology, CAD automation, or infrastructure improvements
- Experience leading technical teams or driving cross-functional initiatives in data center environments
Salary range is $205,000 to $255,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.
We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.