FPGA Silicon Validation Engineer

Altera • Austin, TX

5d

About The Position

At Altera, we are pioneering the future of programmable logic and accelerating innovation across cloud, communications, industrial, and AI-driven systems. Our engineering teams develop world-class FPGA technology that enables customers to build highly adaptable and high-performance solutions. We are seeking an FPGA Silicon Validation Engineer to join our Silicon Engineering organization. In this role, you will help ensure the quality and reliability of next-generation FPGA products by developing validation environments, executing silicon bring-up activities, and collaborating across architecture, design, and software teams. This position plays a critical role in validating functionality, performance, and power of complex FPGA devices prior to production release.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• 2+ years of experience in silicon validation for complex semiconductor or FPGA-based systems.
• 2+ years of experience with FPGA validation methodologies, including system-level validation and silicon debug.
• 2+ years of experience working with FPGA development flows and tools, including RTL design, synthesis, and FPGA prototyping environments.
• 2+ years of experience using lab instrumentation and debug tools (e.g., oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers) for hardware validation and debugging.
• 2+ years of experience with hardware/software debug techniques, including root cause analysis of silicon issues.
• 2+ years of experience collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams such as architecture, design, firmware, and software to execute validation strategies.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience validating complex FPGA or SoC-based systems in a lab environment.
• Familiarity with scripting or programming languages used in validation environments (e.g., Python, TCL, or C/C++).
• Experience developing automated validation infrastructure or test frameworks.
• Knowledge of performance and power characterization techniques for silicon devices.

Responsibilities

• Define and develop FPGA designs that mimic customer use models and enable FPGA silicon validation across IP, software, tools, and system integration.
• Drive continuous improvement of silicon validation environments, methodologies, and test infrastructure.
• Develop lab-based validation environments and synthetic test content to characterize and verify functionality, performance, and power.
• Execute validation plans and qualify silicon for production release through structured testing and analysis.
• Apply hardware and software-level tools and techniques to ensure functional coverage and verify that performance and power targets are met.
• Utilize modern FPGA design flows, processes, and tools to improve validation quality and execution schedule.
• Implement digital logic functions in FPGA prototypes and evaluate trade-offs between architectural and design alternatives.
• Debug and resolve silicon bring-up issues, document findings, and troubleshoot problems from prototype stage through production release.
• Collaborate with architecture, design, firmware, software, and tools teams to define validation strategies, develop test plans, and drive execution across the product lifecycle.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level