Principal Digital Design Engineer

Job Title

Principal Digital Design Engineer

Role Summary

Design, develop and optimize digital logic circuits and subsystems for ASIC and FPGA products across the full design cycle: specification, RTL implementation, verification, synthesis, and silicon validation.

Work on cross-functional SoC teams and collaborate with verification, physical design, firmware and validation engineers to meet power, performance and area targets and deliver tape-outs.

Experience Level

Senior — typically requires 10+ years of experience in digital design or ASIC/FPGA development, with proven product deliveries or tape-outs.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include:

• Write and maintain RTL (Verilog / SystemVerilog / VHDL) for complex digital blocks and subsystems.
• Architect digital modules, define interfaces and integration with SoC subsystems.
• Develop and execute functional verification, testbenches and validation plans (simulation-based and UVM methodologies).
• Perform logic synthesis, static timing analysis, and optimize for area, power and timing.
• Debug issues at RTL, gate and silicon levels; support post-silicon bring-up and validation.
• Collaborate with verification, physical design, firmware and system teams; participate in design and code reviews.
• Use EDA tools for implementation, verification and analysis; maintain design documentation.

Requirements

Must-have:

• Strong proficiency in Verilog, SystemVerilog and/or VHDL.
• Proven RTL design experience and familiarity with simulation tools such as ModelSim, VCS or Xcelium.
• Experience with synthesis tools (e.g., Design Compiler, Genus) and static timing analysis (PrimeTime).
• Solid understanding of digital design concepts: FSMs, pipelining, clock-domain crossing (CDC) and low-power techniques.
• Experience with FPGA/ASIC design flows and common bus protocols (AXI, AHB, APB).
• Debugging experience using waveform/debug tools (Verdi, SimVision) and supporting post-silicon validation.
• Strong problem-solving, communication and teamwork skills; ability to deliver in deadline-driven environments.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with UVM-based verification methodology.
• Familiarity with DFT concepts and testability implementation.
• Scripting skills (Python, Perl, TCL) for automation.
• Hardware-software co-design experience, high-speed interfaces or SoC-level design exposure.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, VLSI Design, or Computer Engineering.

About the Company

Company: NXP Semiconductors

Headquarters: Nijmegen, Netherlands

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a global semiconductor company that provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions. With over 45,000 employees and operations in more than 35 countries, NXP is a leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, catering to automotive, industrial IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. The company is committed to innovation and sustainability, advancing a smarter, safer, and more sustainable world through technology.