Emulation Performance/Debug Engineer

Job Title

Emulation Performance/Debug Engineer

Role Summary

Work on SoC emulation and FPGA prototyping platforms to enable pre-silicon validation, performance analysis, and system-level debug. The role is on the central SoC digital hardware Emulation Team supporting architects, designers, verification and software engineers.

Experience Level

Entry / Early Career. Minimum qualification indicates 2+ years (with a Bachelor's) or 1+ year (with a Master's); preferred candidates have 5+ years of emulation and silicon environment experience.

Responsibilities

Deliver and support emulation platforms, prototypes, and debug methodologies for pre-silicon SoC validation.

• Design, develop, and deploy consistent global methodologies for emulation build generation and debug across FPGA-based platforms.
• Bring up and validate new FPGA emulation/prototyping hardware and software.
• Perform pre-silicon prototyping, enablement, and bring-up for new SoC designs.
• Debug low-level software and hardware issues; provide system debug support including waveform and content debug.
• Validate and debug digital circuits and SoC subsystems (CPU/DSP cores, multimedia, IO, peripherals, memory, interconnects).
• Collaborate across sites, engage vendors, and communicate status to technical and executive stakeholders.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, plus preferred experience areas.

• Must-have: Expertise in Verilog / SystemVerilog and experience with C.
• Must-have: Scripting proficiency in Python and TCL.
• Must-have: FPGA expertise (Xilinx/Intel), tools, and timing-closure techniques.
• Must-have: Experience debugging hardware/software issues and using debug tools such as JTAG and kernel debuggers.
• Must-have: Solid understanding of CPU and SoC architectures and common SoC building blocks.
• Preferred / Nice-to-have: Experience with emulation platforms (FPGA prototyping, Veloce, Palladium), synthesis/place & route, constraints, clocking, and timing closure workflows.
• Preferred / Nice-to-have: Background in pre-silicon prototyping, vendor engagements, cross-site coordination, and performance/power analysis.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Science, Engineering, or a related field plus 2+ years of ASIC design/verification/validation/integration experience; OR Master's degree in Science, Engineering, or a related field plus 1+ year of relevant experience; OR PhD in Science, Engineering, or a related field.

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.