PHIZENIX

Digital Design Engineer

PHIZENIX · Santa Clara, CA
Santa Clara, CA $180K–$250K Posted 2026-07-20
Salary
$180K–$250K
Type
Full-time

Job description :

Role Overview

We are seeking an ASIC Design Engineer to own digital design, integration, and bring-up for production-grade high-speed interconnect silicon. You will translate micro-architecture into clean, high-quality RTL and drive it through synthesis and timing closure. Just as important, the ideal candidate leverages strong firmware coding experience to drive pre-silicon simulation, develop bare-metal diagnostics, and ensure seamless hardware-software integration—for example, writing firmware on an embedded RISC CPU IP to control on-chip analog hardware blocks and low-speed control/calibration loops for optical components. Strong digital ASIC fundamentals, paired with the ability to debug complex designs in emulation and on silicon, round out the profile.

Key Responsibilities

  • Develop micro-architecture and author high-quality, synthesizable RTL following best-in-class coding methods and design-for-verification / design-for-test practices.
  • Write firmware and bare-metal diagnostics on embedded RISC CPU IP to configure and control on-chip analog blocks and low-speed control/calibration loops for optical components.
  • Drive pre-silicon simulation and hardware-software co-verification, validating firmware against RTL well ahead of tape-out.
  • Integrate processor subsystems—including licensed CPU IP—AMBA fabrics, and serial/interconnect interfaces (e.g., PCIe, UCIe) into the SoC/ASIC.
  • Drive the full implementation flow: synthesis, timing constraints (SDC), timing closure, and equivalence checking (Formality / Conformal), with clean Lint / CDC / RDC signoff.
  • Build and run emulation environments; lead silicon bring-up sequences and post-silicon debug, root-causing and resolving issues on hardware.
  • Provide responsive support—triaging design problems and delivering timely solutions—and collaborate with analog/mixed-signal, DSP, verification, and physical-design teams.

Required Qualifications

Education & Experience

  • B.S. or M.S. in Electrical/Electronics or Computer Engineering (or related), with relevant digital ASIC design experience.
  • Demonstrated experience taking digital designs from RTL through synthesis, timing closure, and silicon bring-up.

Core Technical Skills

  • Strong fundamentals in digital ASIC design, micro-architecture, and best RTL coding methods.
  • Firmware / embedded C development, including bare-metal programming on an on-chip RISC CPU IP (e.g., RISC-V or Arm) to drive analog blocks and low-speed loops.
  • Knowledge of AMBA and serial protocols, processors, and silicon bring-up sequences.
  • Strong design, emulation, and silicon debug skills, with proven hardware-software integration experience.
  • Expertise in synthesis, constraints, timing closure, and equivalence checks (Formality / Conformal).
  • Experience with Lint / CDC / RDC tools.

Professional Skills

  • Customer-support orientation and excellent communication and oratory skills.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Familiarity with interconnect protocols such as PCIe (Gen5/6/7) and UCIe.
  • Experience integrating vendor CPU IP and developing the associated firmware, drivers, and diagnostics.
  • High-speed wireline / SerDes-based SoC experience; UPF low-power design, DFT, and scan/ATPG flows.
  • Scripting proficiency (Python, Tcl)

California Pay Range
$180,000 — $250,000 USD

Python
$110K — 10th pctl $260K — 90th pctl
This role’s midpoint $215K vs. market median $180K for Engineering roles
+20%
above median
Based on 17,000+ Engineering roles with disclosed salary ranges tracked on NewJob.
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