Post-Silicon Validation Engineer
EtchedJob Title
Post-Silicon Validation Engineer
Role Summary
Work on bring-up, validation, and characterization of ASICs from first silicon through production ramp for an AI/ML accelerator. Collaborate with design, verification, board, firmware, and system teams to ensure functional correctness, performance, and reliability.
Experience Level
Senior — 7+ years of post-silicon validation, bring-up, and debug experience.
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities include hands-on silicon bring-up, debugging, validation, and developing test infrastructure and automation.
- Drive early bring-up of first silicon: boot, initialization, and debug.
- Perform deep-dive debug across RTL, firmware, and system levels; root-cause functional and electrical issues.
- Validate and characterize custom IP blocks, compute units, and accelerator components.
- Execute functional, performance, stress, and corner-case testing at IP and full-chip levels.
- Develop and extend post-silicon validation infrastructure, automation, and regression frameworks.
- Capture, analyze, and present results to influence silicon revisions and firmware/driver workarounds.
- Use lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, BERTs, pattern generators) for signal and system characterization.
- Define validation strategies and coverage metrics; coordinate handoff from pre-silicon verification to post-silicon validation.
Requirements
Must-have technical skills, tools, and experience required to perform the role. Education details are listed separately under Education Requirements.
- 7+ years of experience in post-silicon validation, bring-up, and debug of ASICs, preferably including AI/ML accelerators.
- Proven expertise in early silicon bring-up, debug, and validation methodologies.
- Deep knowledge of peripheral interfaces and board-level debug techniques.
- Proficiency in C and Python and scripting for validation automation.
- Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, and other validation lab equipment.
- Familiarity with firmware, bootloaders, and low-level silicon debug environments.
- Strong problem-solving, analytical, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
Education Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field required; Master's degree preferred.
About the Company
Company: Etched
Headquarters: San Jose, CA, United States
Etched develops purpose-built AI inference ASICs and systems optimized for transformer models, aiming to deliver significantly higher performance, lower cost, and lower latency than GPUs. The company focuses on enabling applications like real-time video generation and advanced reasoning agents, and is backed by leading investors and engineers.
