RTL Power Optimization Engineer – New College Grad 2026

Job Title

RTL Power Optimization Engineer – New College Grad 2026

Role Summary

Work on RTL and pre‑silicon power analysis and optimization for NVIDIA GPU and networking products. Collaborate with architects, performance engineers, software, ASIC design, and physical design teams to identify power issues, propose RTL/architecture changes, and measure the impact of fixes.

The team combines RTL methodology, EDA tool flows, and AI/ML techniques to reduce energy consumption across product designs.

Experience Level

Entry-level — new college graduate (class of 2026) or equivalent early-career experience.

Responsibilities

Primary day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Run pre-silicon RTL and gate-level power analyses using internal and industry tools to identify high-power blocks and trends.
• Apply AI/ML methods to propose RTL or architectural power-optimization solutions.
• Develop automation scripts and data pipelines to scale power analysis and reporting.
• Prototype architectural features in Verilog and evaluate their power impact.
• Interpret power reports for architects and RTL designers, trace root causes, and drive implementation of fixes.
• Define and document pre-silicon power-analysis best practices and share results with cross-functional teams.
• Select and run representative workloads to evaluate power across design corners and scenarios.

Requirements

Core technical skills and experience expected for the role.

Must have:

• Understanding of RTL power-optimization fundamentals (switching activity, clock/enable efficiency, RTL low-power patterns).
• Experience with Verilog/RTL coding and ability to prototype features for power evaluation.
• Knowledge of backend flows (logic synthesis, place-and-route) and how RTL choices affect post-layout power and timing.
• Strong Python skills for automation, data processing, and building analysis flows.
• Experience debugging RTL or gate-level power anomalies by tracing logic cones and analyzing activity/toggle data.
• Clear written and verbal communication to document methods and present findings to design and tools teams.

Nice to have:

• Exposure to industry power-analysis tools (e.g., PowerArtist, PrimeTime PX) or equivalent.
• Practical experience applying machine learning or AI techniques to EDA or silicon power problems.

Education Requirements

Pursuing or recently completed an MS or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field; equivalent practical experience is acceptable. Coursework or hands-on experience in digital design, VLSI, AI/ML, and related topics is desirable.

About the Company

Company: NVIDIA

Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, USA

NVIDIA is a global leader in accelerated computing, renowned for its innovative solutions in AI and digital twins that transform diverse industries. The company specializes in networking technologies, providing end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions for servers and storage that optimize performance and scalability. NVIDIA serves sectors such as high-performance computing, enterprise data centers, and cloud computing, constantly reinventing its products and services to stay ahead in the market.