Senior Engineer - Emulation

Role Summary

Execute and own FPGA prototyping and emulation activities for complex SoC designs, with primary focus on multi-FPGA prototyping, synthesis/P&R, timing closure, bitfile generation, board bring-up and system-level debug. Support emulator model bring-up on ZeBu/Veloce and collaborate with Design, DV, Firmware and Board teams to resolve issues. Drive assigned technical workstreams, automation and productivity improvements while providing hands-on technical guidance to junior engineers.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Execute end-to-end FPGA prototyping and emulation activities for SoC/ASIC designs, covering RTL preparation, synthesis, partitioning, P&R, bitfile generation, board bring-up and validation.
• Take ownership of FPGA prototype model bring-up on platforms such as HAPS, Protium and other FPGA-based prototyping systems.
• Support multi-FPGA partitioning and implementation, including partition optimization, FPGA resource utilization, inter-FPGA connectivity, pin utilization and routing challenges.
• Perform FPGA synthesis, P&R and timing analysis, identify implementation bottlenecks and work on resolving timing violations, congestion and resource issues.
• Support clock and reset implementation for FPGA prototypes, including analysis of ASIC clock structures and development/application of appropriate FPGA constraints.
• Drive FPGA board bring-up and debug, including JTAG, clocks, resets, memories and SoC interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, MDIO, PCIe and other relevant interfaces.
• Develop, generate and validate FPGA bitfiles and support deployment on prototype hardware.
• Perform emulator model bring-up and validation on platforms such as ZeBu and Veloce, including compilation, model configuration, basic connectivity validation and debug.
• Support FPGA prototype and emulator debug using waveform/debug tools, FPGA probes, logs and hardware/software correlation.
• Analyze RTL and implementation reports to identify synthesis, P&R, timing and emulation-related issues, and work with RTL/DV teams to resolve them.
• Work closely with Design, DV, SV, Firmware, Software and Board teams to reproduce, debug and close issues encountered during FPGA prototype and emulator bring-up.
• Support prototype/emulator regression execution, analyze failures and ensure issues are properly documented and tracked to closure.
• Develop and maintain TCL/Perl/Python automation for FPGA builds, configuration, regression, log analysis, timing/QoR extraction and repetitive debug activities.

• Monitor and improve FPGA build time, implementation QoR, timing, resource utilization and prototype execution performance.
• Support evaluation and adoption of new FPGA boards, prototyping platforms and emulator capabilities under the guidance of senior technical leadership.
• Contribute to defining and improving FPGA prototyping and emulation flows, checklists and debug methodologies based on project experience.
• Take ownership of assigned technical workstreams and ensure milestones, deliverables and quality objectives are achieved within the project schedule.
• Act as a technical point of contact for assigned FPGA/emulation areas, providing status, issues, dependencies and recovery plans to the technical lead.
• Mentor junior engineers on day-to-day FPGA prototyping, implementation, bring-up and debug activities.

Core Ownership Areas

FPGA Prototyping - Primary

HAPS | Protium | Multi-FPGA Partitioning | Synthesis | P&R | Timing Closure | Clock/Reset | Bitfile Generation | FPGA Board Bring-up | FPGA Debug | QoR Optimization

Emulation - Supporting/Hands-on

ZeBu | Veloce | Emulator Model Bring-up | Compilation | Connectivity Validation | Debug | Regression

Execution & Productivity

RTL Analysis | HW/SW Debug | Regression | Automation | Issue Tracking | Cross-functional Debug | Technical Documentation