ASIC Verification Engineer - Acacia

Job Title

ASIC Verification Engineer - Acacia

Role Summary

Technical lead role on the Acacia ASIC verification team at Cisco, focused on verification of next-generation 100G–1.6T coherent optical communications ASICs. The position leads verification strategy, develops test plans and verification environments, and ensures design quality across complex ASIC projects.

Experience Level

Senior-level technical lead. The posting specifies senior experience (see Education Requirements for formal experience equivalencies).

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include planning and executing verification activities, technical leadership, and improving team practices.

• Lead development of detailed verification test plans and strategies for complex ASIC features.
• Design and develop verification testbenches and automated test environments.
• Apply advanced verification techniques and methodologies to ensure design correctness and coverage.
• Oversee execution of test plans and track completion of verification objectives.
• Review verification code, coverage metrics, and results; drive closure of verification gaps.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor engineers on verification methods and tools.
• Collaborate with cross-functional ASIC, firmware, and lab teams to integrate verification and validation workflows.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience, plus preferred (nice-to-have) items.

• Must-have: Strong hands-on experience with SystemVerilog/UVM and SystemC.
• Must-have: Proficiency in C++ and experience applying object-oriented verification methodologies.
• Must-have: Practical experience with modern ASIC verification methodologies, tools, and scripting/programming for verification automation.
• Must-have: Proven ability to lead technical verification projects and mentor engineers.
• Nice-to-have: Lab silicon bring-up and silicon validation experience.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with DSP algorithms and modulation techniques (e.g., QAM) and C++ templates.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with formal verification tools and methodologies (e.g., Jasper, VCFormal).
• Nice-to-have: Experience developing in-house IP blocks.

Education Requirements

Degree and experience equivalencies stated in the posting: Bachelors + 8 years related experience, Masters + 6 years related experience, PhD + 3 years related experience, or equivalent related work experience. The posting does not specify a required field of study or specific certifications.

About the Company

Company: Cisco Systems

Headquarters: San Jose, CA, United States

Cisco Systems is a global technology company that designs and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, software, and services. It provides enterprise and service-provider networking, security, collaboration, and optical communications solutions (including Acacia Communications technologies for high-speed optical interconnects).