Principal Application Engineer - Verification

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior SoC Verification Engineer with 6+ years of hands‑on experience in complex SoC verification. The ideal candidate has strong expertise in UVM‑based environments, deep understanding of SoC architecture, and practical experience verifying application processors, AI accelerators, or other high‑performance chips. This role focuses on technical depth rather than people management, requiring strong ownership, problem‑solving ability, and broad protocol knowledge.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute verification plans for complex SoC subsystems and full‑chip environments.
• Build, enhance, and maintain UVM‑based verification environments, including agents, sequences, scoreboards, and coverage models.
• Perform block‑level, subsystem‑level, and SoC‑level verification, including IT (Integration Test), UT (Unit Test), and ST (System Test).
• Verify integration of third‑party IPs, custom logic, and system‑level features.
• Debug functional issues across RTL, testbench, and SoC integration layers.
• Analyze coverage metrics, identify gaps, and drive closure for functional, code, and assertion coverage.
• Collaborate closely with design, architecture, and validation teams to ensure design intent and testability.
• Support bring‑up and validation on emulation/FPGA platforms when required.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of verification methodologies, automation, and infrastructure.
• Document test plans, test results, and verification reports with clarity and completeness.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 6+ years of hands‑on experience in digital SoC verification.
• Strong proficiency in SystemVerilog, UVM, constrained‑random verification, and coverage‑driven methodology.
• Solid understanding of SoC architecture, memory hierarchy, cache systems, interconnects, and coherency concepts.
• Experience verifying AP (Application Processor), AI accelerator, DSP, multimedia, or high‑performance compute SoCs is highly desirable.
• Broad familiarity with industry‑standard protocols such as AXI, AHB, APB, PCIe, USB, DDR, LPDDR, MIPI, Ethernet, or similar.
• Strong debugging skills using waveform tools, assertions, and simulation logs.
• Hands‑on experience with simulation, emulation, or acceleration platforms.
• Knowledge of low‑power verification (UPF), formal verification, or performance validation is a plus.
• Ability to work effectively in cross‑functional and multi‑site teams.
• Strong communication skills and ability to articulate technical issues clearly.
• Self‑driven, detail‑oriented, and comfortable working in fast‑paced environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AI/ML hardware verification or high‑bandwidth compute subsystems.
• Familiarity with Python, Perl, or shell scripting for automation.
• Exposure to post‑silicon validation flows.
• Understanding of DFT concepts and scan/MBIST interactions.

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