Senior Silicon Validation Engineer

Job Title

Senior Silicon Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Work on silicon validation and characterization of FPGA building blocks at the board level as part of the Silicon Engineering team. The role focuses on product bring-up, IP validation, performance characterization, and cross-functional debugging from silicon arrival through product release.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 5+ years of relevant experience.

Responsibilities

The engineer will plan and execute validation and characterization activities, develop test logic and automation, and support cross-functional teams to resolve silicon and product issues.

• Validate and characterize FPGA IPs (SERDES, memory interfaces, DPHY, PLL, DSP, fabric, I/O) from silicon arrival to production release.
• Develop validation and characterization plans, bench hardware setups, and test software.
• Implement test logic RTL and FPGA-based test environments to exercise required functionality and measurements.
• Drive silicon bring-up, debug issues, and analyze measured data to assess IP functionality and performance for datasheet parameters.
• Prepare characterization reports and datasheet inputs; perform statistical analysis on measured results.
• Act as a central technical resource across design, verification, manufacturing, test, quality, and applications teams during product maturation.
• Support customer escalations and post-release issue resolution as needed.

Requirements

Key technical skills and practical experience required or strongly preferred.

Must-have:

• Experience validating high-speed SerDes interfaces and protocol compliance testing (examples: PCIe, Ethernet, SDI, CoaXpress, JESD204, MIPI D-PHY, MIPI CSI/DSI-2, USB, DisplayPort/HDMI).
• Experience in high-speed board design and signal integrity evaluation/debug.
• Experience with Verilog/VHDL and FPGA development tool flows for test logic and implementation.
• Test automation experience using scripting/programming languages such as Python or Perl.
• Familiarity with device characterization bench equipment (BERT, VNA, oscilloscopes, protocol exercisers/analyzers).
• Ability to analyze measurement data with statistical methods and tools.
• Strong problem solving, debugging skills, and effective written and verbal communication for cross-functional teamwork.

Nice-to-have:

• Exposure to FPGA emulation/prototyping and familiarity with advanced test boards and lab automation.
• Experience with analysis tools such as JMP or R.

Education Requirements

Electrical Engineering degree (level not specified in the posting).

About the Company

Company: Lattice Semiconductor

Headquarters: Portland, Oregon, USA

Lattice Semiconductor specializes in low power, small-form-factor programmable logic devices and solutions. The company is known for its innovative technology that enables a wide range of applications, including communication, consumer, and industrial markets.