ASIC Verification Engineer - Acacia (Hybrid)
Cisco SystemsJob Title
ASIC Verification Engineer - Acacia (Hybrid)
Role Summary
Senior technical lead responsible for verification of next-generation 100G–1.6T coherent optical communication ASICs within Acacia at Cisco. The role focuses on defining verification strategy, developing test plans and testbenches, ensuring design quality, and mentoring verification engineers.
Works on a cross-functional team building silicon, DSP, and module products; this is a hybrid role with three days per week in Cisco’s Maynard, MA office.
Experience Level
Senior — Technical Lead level. Minimum qualifications map to experienced candidates (Bachelor's +8 years, Master’s +6 years, PhD +3 years) or equivalent related work experience.
Responsibilities
The role leads verification planning and execution and provides technical direction to the verification team.
- Lead development of detailed verification test plans and requirements-driven test strategy.
- Design and develop verification testbenches and harnesses (SystemVerilog/UVM, SystemC integration).
- Apply advanced and innovative verification techniques to complex ASIC designs.
- Supervise and coordinate timely execution of test plans across the team.
- Review verification code, simulations, and coverage metrics; drive quality improvements.
- Mentor and provide technical leadership to verification engineers.
- Collaborate with design, lab, and systems teams to integrate verification with silicon bring-up and validation.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills and experience; preferred items are listed separately.
- Proven experience with modern ASIC verification methodologies, tools, and scripting/programming languages.
- Strong C++ experience, including object-oriented programming.
- Experience with SystemVerilog and UVM; familiarity with SystemC.
- Experience developing and maintaining verification testbenches and coverage-driven verification flows.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills and experience leading technical projects or teams.
- Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced, technical environment and to introduce process improvements.
Nice-to-have:
- Experience with DSP algorithms and modulation techniques (e.g., QAM).
- C++ templates and advanced C++ patterns.
- Lab silicon validation and in-house IP development experience.
- Experience with Formal Verification tools and methodologies (e.g., Jasper, VCFormal).
- Track record of innovations that improve verification efficiency or quality.
Education Requirements
Degree requirement: Bachelor's degree + 8 years related experience, or Master’s + 6 years, or PhD + 3 years, or equivalent related work experience. (Posting allows equivalent practical experience in lieu of degrees.)
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).
