CPU Emulation Engineer

Job Title

CPU Emulation Engineer

Role Summary

Work on the CPU verification team to design, build, and maintain emulation-based verification solutions for high-performance CPUs. Collaborate with RTL, performance, verification, firmware and software teams to validate functionality and performance across simulation and emulation platforms.

Experience Level

Mid-level. Typical candidates have multiple years of hardware/verification experience; Qualcomm lists experience ranges starting at 2–4 years and prefers 5+ years with emulation platforms.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include developing emulation infrastructure, enabling verification workloads, and debugging emulation and CPU issues.

• Architect and implement emulation testbench infrastructure using C/C++ and SystemVerilog.
• Develop verification methodology that is scalable and portable between simulation and emulation.
• Prepare environments to run verification tests, OS boot, performance benchmarks, and other workloads on emulation platforms.
• Debug functional and performance issues on emulation models; root-cause failures and regressions.
• Optimize synthesizable Verilog components and verification logic for emulation and FPGAs.
• Collect and maintain emulation metrics and performance data to improve resource utilization.
• Coordinate with emulation CAD/infrastructure teams to resolve tool and environment issues.
• Execute verification plans, including design and DV environment bring-up and regression enabling.

Requirements

Concise list of required technical skills and desirable additional skills. Education and degree/year requirements are summarized separately below.

• Must-have: Strong programming in C/C++ and experience with SystemVerilog-based verification environments.
• Must-have: Experience with emulation or FPGA-based verification platforms or equivalent hands-on verification experience.
• Must-have: Debugging and root-cause skills for functional and performance problems in complex SoC/CPU designs.
• Must-have: Scripting proficiency (Python, shell, Perl) to automate workflows and package workloads for test runs.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with specific emulation platforms (Palladium, Zebu, Veloce) and FPGA prototyping.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with C/C++ DPI transactors and monitors, and synthesizing/optimizing synthesizable Verilog.
• Nice-to-have: Knowledge of RISC-V programming model, Linux boot/firmware, CPU architecture and microarchitecture.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field with 4+ years of relevant engineering experience; or Master's degree in those fields with 3+ years; or PhD in those fields with 2+ years. Equivalents in related technical fields or equivalent practical experience are acceptable per the posting.

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.