Senior Engineer, Post Silicon Validation

Job Title

Senior Engineer, Post Silicon Validation

Role Summary

Responsible for FPGA-based prototyping and comprehensive post-silicon validation to ensure silicon functionality and product readiness. The role bridges pre-silicon and post-silicon phases by driving FPGA emulation, system bring-up, validation across use cases and operating conditions, and cross-functional debugging.

Experience Level

Senior — targeting 4–10 years of experience in FPGA prototyping, post-silicon validation, or mixed-signal/SoC validation.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include prototyping, bring-up, validation, debugging, and automation to ensure functional correctness and production readiness.

• Develop and maintain FPGA-based prototyping platforms to validate SoC/IP features and system behavior.
• Emulate real-world scenarios on FPGA to enable early validation and faster debugging.
• Perform post-silicon bring-up, board and system-level validation, and hardware debug.
• Define and execute validation plans covering features, corner cases, and system scenarios.
• Validate functionality, performance, and interfaces across PVT and use-case conditions.
• Debug hardware, firmware, and system-level interactions with cross-functional teams.
• Develop test programs, automation scripts, and validation frameworks (Python/C/C++).
• Use lab equipment (oscilloscope, logic analyzers, power supplies) for validation and debug.
• Analyze validation data, perform root-cause analysis, and drive issue closure to signoff.
• Support evaluation board bring-up and system integration activities.
• Improve validation efficiency through automation, reuse, and standardization; report progress and risks to stakeholders.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience for the role.

• Hands-on experience with FPGA prototyping or FPGA-based system validation.
• Strong understanding of digital design fundamentals and SoC/embedded system architecture.
• Experience in post-silicon validation, board bring-up, and hardware debugging.
• Familiarity with interfaces/protocols such as I2C, SPI, UART, PCIe, Ethernet.
• Proficiency in Python, C, or C++ for test automation and data analysis.
• Experience using lab equipment and debugging techniques (oscilloscope, logic analyzer, power supplies).
• Strong debugging skills across hardware, firmware, and system-level issues.
• Experience developing validation plans, test cases, and automation frameworks.
• Ability to own validation of complex features from bring-up to closure and collaborate with global teams.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with hardware emulation/prototyping platforms (FPGA boards, Zebu, Palladium, Veloce).
• Exposure to pre-silicon verification or RTL development flows (Verilog/SystemVerilog).
• Embedded software/firmware experience (Linux, bare-metal) or board design/schematics exposure.
• Familiarity with automotive or functional safety standards (e.g., ISO 26262) and experience building regression environments.

Education Requirements

Not specified.

About the Company

Company: Renesas

Headquarters: Hitachinaka, Japan

Renesas is a global leader in embedded semiconductor solutions, providing high-quality products across automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT sectors. With over 22,000 employees in more than 30 countries, the company focuses on scalable solutions that enhance user experience and drive innovation while committed to sustainability and energy efficiency.