Principal Design Engineer

Job description

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

Required Qualifications

B.E./B.Tech or M.Tech/M.S. in Electronics, VLSI, or related field 8–10 years of hands-on DV experience in semiconductor/ASIC/SoC companies Deep expertise in SystemVerilog and UVM (Universal Verification Methodology)

• Strong understanding of digital design fundamentals — RTL, timing, clocking, resets Experience with industry-standard simulators: Xcelium, VCS, Questa
• Proficiency in coverage-driven verification — functional, code, and toggle coverage Hands-on experience with formal verification tools and flows Experience with bus protocols such as AXI, AHB, APB, PCIe, DDR, or similar
• Strong debug skills — waveform analysis (Verisium, SimVision)
• Familiarity with low-power verification (UPF/CPF) and gls/power-aware gls simulation

Core Responsibilities

Strategy and Architecture Verification Planning: Define the overall verification strategy, including the choice of methodology (typically UVM/SystemVerilog), tools, and infrastructure.

Testbench Architecture

Design scalable, reusable, and robust verification environments. This includes developing Bus Functional Models (BFMs), monitors, scoreboards, and checkers.

Feature Extraction

Analyze architectural specifications to identify critical features and corner cases that require rigorous testing.

Execution and Technical Leadership Customer Interaction

Technically lead DV execution of small to mid-sized customer ASIC projects. Handle customer interactions. Convert high level customer requirements into DV execution plan.

Development

Write complex test cases and sequences to achieve high functional coverage.

Debug

Lead the root-cause analysis of complex design bugs, collaborating closely with design engineers to implement fixes.

Constraint Random Testing

Implement constrained-random stimulus generation to explore the design space beyond directed tests.

Formal Verification

Utilize formal tools to prove specific properties or find deep-seated bugs that simulation might miss.

Metric Management Coverage Analysis

Monitor and analyze functional and code coverage metrics.

Gate-Level Simulation (GLS)

Oversee simulations on the synthesized netlist to verify timing and reset behavior.

Sign-off

Define the "definition of done" and provide final technical approval for the verification phase.

Soft Skills and Leadership Mentorship

Guiding junior engineers on coding standards and debugging techniques.

Cross-functional Collaboration

Acting as the primary technical point of contact between the design, architecture, and emulation teams.

Project Management

Managing timelines, identifying risks in the verification schedule, and prioritizing tasks to meet project deadlines. We’re doing work that matters. Help us solve what others can’t.