Emulation Engineer – AI Accelerator Silicon (Veloce / FPGA Prototyping)

TL;DR

Emulation Engineer (AI Accelerator Silicon): Validating next-generation AI accelerator chips before tape-out using Veloce and FPGA prototyping platforms with an accent on performance, scalability, and reliability. Focus on developing emulation environments, building system-level testbenches, and collaborating with firmware and design teams to enable early software bring-up and accelerate debug cycles.

Remote or Santa Clara, CA

$220k - $320k base + meaningful equity

Company

Cutting-edge AI hardware company building in-memory compute architecture for high-performance, energy-efficient edge AI inference. Backed by $165M (Series B), ~60 employees, founded by world-leading ML hardware researcher.

What you will do

• Develop and maintain emulation environments using Siemens Veloce and FPGA prototyping platforms
• Adapt SoC designs for emulation and prototyping workflows
• Build and debug system-level testbenches and validation environments
• Support pre-silicon validation, performance analysis, and early software bring-up
• Collaborate with firmware and runtime teams to enable driver and application testing on emulators
• Work with design and verification teams to identify issues and accelerate debug cycles

Requirements

• BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
• 3+ years of experience in SoC design or hardware validation
• Hands-on experience with emulation platforms (Veloce, Palladium, or ZeBu)
• Experience with FPGA prototyping systems (HAPS, Protium, or proFPGA)
• Strong understanding of digital design, RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog), and SoC architecture
• Experience with hardware debug tools, waveform viewers, and logic analyzers
• Scripting experience (Python, Tcl, or Perl) for automation and infrastructure

Culture & Benefits

• Breakthrough in-memory compute technology solving AI bottlenecks
• Elite team from leading tech and semiconductor companies
• Strong momentum with enterprise demand across AI, defense, and HPC
• High ownership in a small, mission-driven team
• Real-world impact on next-gen edge AI infrastructure