Senior Principal Technical Quality Engineer

Job Title

Senior Principal Technical Quality Engineer

Role Summary

Member of the Silicon Solutions Group (SSG) global quality team responsible for driving design-quality improvements across semiconductor IP design organizations. Acts as the quality champion for one or more design teams, analyzing defects, defining QA/QC processes, and reporting quality metrics to senior engineering management.

The role includes defining and maintaining release QC procedures, participating in quality certifications (eg. ISO 9001, ISO 26262), and supporting foundry IP quality programs. The position emphasizes improving process efficiency through automation, including agentic AI systems.

Experience Level

Senior — 7+ years of relevant experience.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include collaborating across global teams to establish and improve quality processes and communicating quality status and findings to stakeholders.

• Participate on the global SSG Quality Team and represent the team to customers and partners.
• Define, document, and maintain quality procedures for multiple design teams.
• Analyze design defects, perform root-cause analysis (RCA), and identify corrective actions.
• Hold post-mortem reviews and summarize findings for engineering leadership.
• Generate, interpret, and communicate quality metrics to measure process effectiveness.
• Improve QA/QC effectiveness and efficiency through automation and agentic AI system implementations.
• Assist design teams in preparing failure analysis reports.
• Maintain and support quality certifications such as ISO 9001 and ISO 26262.
• Support participation in external semiconductor foundry quality programs.

Requirements

Required and preferred skills for successfully performing this role.

• Must-have: 7+ years of hands-on experience in analog or digital IC design or verification, or experience in silicon fabrication quality assurance/control.
• Must-have: Strong problem analysis, defect investigation, and teamwork skills.
• Must-have: Strong written and verbal communication skills and quality consciousness.
• Nice-to-have: Experience with defect management and analysis methods such as RCA, 5-Why, 8D.
• Nice-to-have: Experience in analog IC design.
• Nice-to-have: Familiarity with automation or agentic AI systems applied to QA/QC processes.

Education Requirements

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE) required.

About the Company

Company: Cadence Design Systems

Headquarters: San Jose, California, USA

Cadence Design Systems is a global electronic design automation company that provides software, hardware, and intellectual property for designing advanced semiconductor chips. With over 25 years in the industry, Cadence is known for its innovative technology solutions and has been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. The company is dedicated to solving complex technical challenges in order to enable customers to create revolutionary products and experiences.