CPU Verification Engineer

This role is for one of Weekday’s clients
Min Experience: 8 years
JobType: full-time

About the Role:
We are seeking a highly experienced and technically proficient Senior CPU Verification Engineer to lead the pre-silicon functional and performance verification of our next-generation POWER processor core systems. This is a pivotal role within our hardware engineering team where you will be responsible for ensuring that the processor cores meet their design specifications and performance targets through rigorous verification methodologies.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and execute the core-level pre-silicon verification of POWER processor architectures, focusing on both functional correctness and performance goals.
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the Power Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and microarchitecture of the processor core to identify potential corner cases and failure modes.
• Collaborate with architecture and RTL design teams to understand specifications, define verification strategies, and develop detailed test plans.
• Enhance and maintain unit-level and core-level verification environments, ensuring they are scalable, efficient, and capable of catching subtle design bugs.
• Develop a deep understanding of the processor pipeline stages including Instruction Fetch, Branch Prediction, Dispatch, Load Store, and Execution Units to design effective test cases.
• Perform hands-on debugging of core-level failures, analyze root causes, and propose enhancements to both stimulus generation and coverage models.
• Implement advanced verification methodologies including constraint-random stimulus, assertion-based verification, and coverage-driven development.
• Contribute to improving the debug infrastructure and tools used for core-level simulations and validation.
• Drive coverage closure by tracking functional and code coverage metrics and ensuring all design scenarios are validated.
• Provide mentorship to junior verification engineers and lead technical reviews across the verification lifecycle.
  

Key Skills and Requirements:

• 8+ years of industry experience in CPU design and verification with a strong emphasis on ASIC/SoC design verification.
• Proven track record in leading or significantly contributing to pre-silicon verification efforts for complex processor designs.
• Strong knowledge of CPU architecture, microarchitecture, and pipelining concepts.
• Proficiency in SystemVerilog, UVM, or similar verification methodologies.
• Experience with simulation tools, waveform debugging, and scripting in languages such as Python, Perl, or Shell.
• Familiarity with Power ISA or similar RISC instruction set architectures.
• Expertise in coverage analysis, constraint-driven test generation, and automated regression environments.
• Experience with verification of CPU subsystems or SoCs in multi-core environments is a plus.
• Ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment and engage cross-functional teams to achieve verification goals.
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
• Exposure to performance verification, including benchmarking and performance bottleneck analysis.
• Knowledge of tools such as VCS, Questa, or Verdi is an advantage.