Post-Silicon Debug Validation Engineer

Job Title

Post-Silicon Debug Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Join the Post-Silicon Customer Engineering & Debug team to validate and debug Oryon custom CPU-based products across mobile, compute, automotive, and data center platforms. The role focuses on resolving complex silicon and customer-reported issues by combining silicon bring-up, firmware, and software analysis.

Work closely with CPU architecture, design, verification, physical design, firmware, DFT, and SoC teams to drive root-cause analysis to closure and improve product quality.

Experience Level

Senior. The posting targets engineers with approximately 7–10 years of relevant experience in CPU microarchitecture, post-silicon validation, or silicon bring-up.

Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities center on diagnosing and resolving complex CPU and SoC issues in silicon and customer systems.

• Own end-to-end debug and resolution of CPU crashes, hangs, watchdog resets, performance anomalies, power issues, boot failures, and silicon marginalities.
• Perform root-cause analysis using silicon traces, scan dumps, ETM/PTM, and debug infrastructure.
• Collaborate with CPU architecture, RTL, design verification, physical design, DFT, firmware, and SoC teams to reproduce and close issues.
• Troubleshoot hardware, firmware, and electrical issues including signal integrity, interface bugs, and boot problems.
• Develop and maintain automation and validation flows (scripting, test harnesses, regression suites).
• Drive quality and stability improvements for flagship processor products through systematic validation and customer engagement.

Requirements

Core technical skills and practical experience required for the role. Degree requirements are listed separately under Education Requirements below.

• Must-have: Strong knowledge of CPU microarchitecture and ARM architecture fundamentals.
• Must-have: Hands-on post-silicon validation, debug, or silicon bring-up experience, including use of silicon trace tools (ETM/PTM) and scan/trace analysis.
• Must-have: Understanding of SoC architecture, interconnects, memory subsystems, multi-core CPU systems, pipeline, cache, coherency, and exception/debug flows.
• Must-have: Proficiency in low-level programming and automation (Assembly, C/C++, Python).
• Must-have: Strong analytical thinking and systematic root-cause debugging skills.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with silicon bring-up tools, signal-integrity analysis, FPGA/emulation, and familiarity with Oryon CPU or similar platforms.

Education Requirements

Minimum degree options listed in the source: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or a related field (with 3+ years of hardware engineering or related experience); OR a Master's degree in the same fields (with 2+ years' experience); OR a PhD in the same fields (with 1+ year experience). Equivalent related-field language is accepted.

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.