Principal Engineer - Characterization
First seen by Alion on Sep 11, 2026.
Job Description :
Candidate will join the silicon characterization team to execute characterization of FPGA products. You will work closely with silicon design engineers, software engineers and technology development engineers to ensure that the company deploys new products with the highest quality and shortest time to market. This position will provide the opportunity to work on multiple projects supporting key functions within the organization. Based on the relevant years of experience and exposure, this position can provide opportunities to lead team.
Primary Job Responsibilities :
- Own and deliver on characterization of FPGA products with emphasis on high-speed protocols
- Develop Characterization spec, plan, and documentation
- Characterization of Digital and Mixed-signal designs
- Associated design and firmware development
- Verification of Microchip's FPGA timing and Power analysis tools
- Correlation of pre-silicon results with silicon measurements
- Cross-functional team interfacing and collaboration in all activities
Required Skills and Experience :
- BSEE or MSEE
- 8 - 16 years of experience in product characterization or silicon validation with emphasis on digital and mixed-signal circuits
- 5+ years of experience in characterization and/or validation of serial protocols (PCIe/10GBaseKR/XAUI/SATA/etc.)
- Expertise in characterization of DDR, SoC, processors, PLL, Oscillators, etc.
- Firmware Development on multi-core microcontrollers or processors (ARM/RISC-V or similar)
- Experience working in a laboratory environment, using lab equipment such as BERTs, logic analyzers, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, function generators, etc.
- Experience in evaluation of various laboratory equipment such as BERTs, Oscilloscopes, etc.
- In-depth knowledge of electrical engineering fundamentals including CMOS device operation and characteristics
- Experience in board design fundamentals, signal and power integrity
- Experience with Verilog or VHDL
- Exposure to automated characterization flows to maximize use of equipment
- Initiative (self-motivated, self-confident, self-driven, self-learning, always striving for excellence)
- Commitment (responsible, responsive, commit to winning)
- Solid functional and technical skills
- Work quality ("do it right the first time", attention to detail, good documentation)
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Excellent communication, documentation and presentation skills
- Must have strong self-learning ability, leadership, and enjoy working in teams
Preferred Skills :
- ASIC/FPGA characterization experience of high speed serial interfaces (PCIe/10GBaseKR/XAUI/SATA/etc.)
- Knowledge of JTAG protocol highly desirable
- Working knowledge of SOC and/or FPGA Architectures
- Knowledge of FPGA design synthesis and routing associated with Microchip (Libero), AMD/Xilinx (Vivado, ISE), or Intel/Altera (Quartus) tools
- Working knowledge of at least 1 of the following languages : Java/ C/C++, Visual Basic and/or Perl
- Analog and mixed signal circuit design. Working experience with analog and/or digital systems is an advantage
Travel Time :
- 25% - 50%
Skills
Memory Characterization, FPGA, FPGA Design, Firmware, DDR, SoC, ARM, Verilog, VHDL, ASIC