Staff Engineer - DFT

Job Title

Staff Engineer - DFT

Role Summary

Senior hardware engineer focused on design-for-test (DFT) and hardware bring-up for complex ASIC/SoC products. The role plans, designs, verifies, and tests electronic systems and test solutions to improve yield, quality, and test time.

Works within the Hardware Engineering group and collaborates with design, verification, validation, software, systems, and manufacturing teams to deliver production-ready hardware.

Experience Level

Senior. Preferred 8+ years of hardware engineering experience; minimum experience expectations vary by degree (see Education Requirements).

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include technical design, verification, and production bring-up for hardware and DFT functions.

• Plan, optimize, verify, and test electronic systems, circuits, packaging, test systems, FPGA, and DSP systems for complex products.
• Integrate complex features into hardware designs to meet power, performance, and area targets.
• Perform simulations and analyses; implement designs with emphasis on power, performance, and area tradeoffs.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to incorporate test solutions and new requirements into production programs.
• Evaluate and develop manufacturing and bring-up solutions for leading-edge processes to meet schedules and customer expectations.
• Characterize reliability of materials and techniques; drive automation and optimization to increase productivity.
• Identify potential design, compatibility, or compliance issues and provide mitigation recommendations.
• Produce detailed technical documentation for complex hardware projects.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, practical experience, and interpersonal abilities for the role.

• Demonstrated hardware engineering experience with ASIC/SoC hardware, DFT, bring-up, or related systems.
• Experience with hardware design tools: schematic capture and circuit simulation software.
• Proficiency using hardware measurement and characterization equipment (oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, RF tools, etc.).
• Ability to conduct complex simulations and hardware analyses; optimize for power, performance, and area.
• Experience collaborating across design, verification, validation, software, and manufacturing teams.
• Technical writing skills to produce clear documentation; ability to influence and communicate complex information.
• Leadership experience: ability to provide supervision or guidance to team members and influence technical decisions.
• Nice-to-have: prior experience with automatic test pattern generation (ATPG), boundary scan, automation tools, and architecture-level DFT strategy.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Engineering, or a related field. Minimum experience expectations per degree listed in the source: Bachelor's +4 years, Master’s +3 years, PhD +2 years. Preferred candidates may have a Master’s degree and ~8+ years of hardware engineering experience.

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.