Early Career DFT Engineer

Job Title

Early Career DFT Engineer

Role Summary

Lead design-for-test (DFT) activities for an SoC project, owning DFT architecture, integration, verification, and test delivery across silicon bring-up. The role sits on a hardware engineering team working on large-system chip projects.

Work collaboratively with chip architecture, design verification, physical design, power, and test engineering to enable first-tapeout success.

Experience Level

Entry-level / Early Career. (Targeted at recent B.Sc./M.Sc. graduates or engineers at the start of their hardware/DFT careers.)

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include full DFT ownership for a chip project and cross-functional integration.

• Create DFT specifications, verification plans, and define SoC test interfaces.
• Develop and implement DFT architecture and integrate it into large SoC blocks, IP, memories, and hard macros.
• Implement testbenches, generate directed and constrained-random tests, debug failures, run gate-level simulations, and close coverage.
• Generate structural test vectors, support synthesis and timing closure for DFT, and coordinate with STA, physical, and power teams.
• Partner with Test Engineers to bring up test vectors on silicon and support silicon debug.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and abilities for the role. Education details are listed separately under Education Requirements.

• Knowledge of Verilog and/or VHDL; familiarity with simulators and waveform debugging tools.
• Familiarity with scripting (Python, TCL, or Perl) and experience using generative AI tools to support scripting and engineering workflows.
• Ability to communicate fluently in English (written and spoken).
• Hands-on debugging, testbench development, and coverage closure experience or equivalent practical exposure through projects or internships.

Nice-to-have:

• Exposure to ATPG, JTAG, MBIST and other industry-standard DFT concepts.
• Experience or exposure to large SoC design, verification methodologies, assertions, and coverage analysis.
• Knowledge of general logic design principles and familiarity with synthesis and timing closure workflows.

Education Requirements

B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field (explicitly listed in the posting). The posting does not state an alternate "equivalent experience" clause beyond typical project/internship exposure.

About the Company

Company: Apple

Headquarters: Cupertino, California, United States

Apple is a multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and sells consumer electronics, software, and online services. Known for its innovative products such as the iPhone, Mac computers, and iPad, Apple emphasizes a strong commitment to high-quality design and user experience.