Principal Emulation Engineer

Principal Emulation Engineer — San Jose, CA

Role Overview

As a Principal Emulation Engineer, you will build and operate emulation environments that let verification teams stress-test complex ASICs before silicon. You’ll partner closely with design, verification, firmware, and systems engineers to model hardware-software interactions, exercise high-speed protocols, and isolate issues across RTL, transactors, test environments, and code. Your hands-on leadership will turn difficult debug problems into actionable fixes and improve confidence in each product milestone.

Astera Labs is accelerating the infrastructure behind AI by delivering purpose-built connectivity solutions for rack-scale systems. In this role, you’ll help validate the switching, PCIe, Ethernet, memory, and storage interfaces that connect the compute fabric—enabling faster bring-up, stronger interoperability, and more reliable platforms as the company scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Emulation and Prototyping

• Architect, build, and maintain emulation environments for complex ASICs and SoCs.

• Integrate RTL, transactors, protocol models, software, and test infrastructure to enable meaningful hardware-software co-simulation.

• Enable verification teams to stress-test designs with scalable, repeatable emulation workflows.

• Develop reusable models, utilities, and debug methodologies that accelerate pre-silicon validation.

• Protocol and SoC Verification

• Verify hardware-software interfaces and system behaviors in partnership with logic designers, firmware engineers, and verification teams.

• Exercise and debug PCI Express Gen 3 and above, Ethernet, DDR, NVMe, SPI, I2C/I3C, and similar interfaces.

• Analyze protocol behavior, functional coverage, performance, and corner cases across complex server, storage, and networking systems.

• Translate system requirements into practical emulation scenarios, tests, checkers, and measurable verification goals.

• Debug and Technical Leadership

• Debug design, environment, transactor, software, and test-code issues across the emulation stack.

• Identify software and hardware co-simulation limitations and apply effective isolation and debug techniques.

• Partner with cross-functional teams to prioritize a dynamic workload, resolve issues quickly, and drive risks to closure.

• Provide technical leadership, communicate clearly, and operate effectively with minimal guidance and supervision.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

• 8–12 years of experience supporting or developing complex SoC or silicon products for server, storage, or networking applications.

• Experience working with logic designers to architect, specify, and verify hardware-software interfaces on complex SoCs.

• Working knowledge of PCI Express Gen 3 or later, CXL, UALink, Ethernet, DDR, NVMe, SPI, I2C/I3C, or similar communication protocols.

• High proficiency in SystemVerilog and hardware verification environments.

• Experience understanding software and hardware co-simulation limitations and applying effective debug methods.

• Programming and scripting experience in Python, Perl, C, or similar languages.

• Professional, entrepreneurial, and open-minded approach with a can-do attitude, strong prioritization skills, and a customer-focused mindset.

• Authorized to work in the United States and available to start immediately.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.

• Hands-on experience with Palladium, Zebu, Veloce, HAPS, FPGA prototyping, or similar emulation and prototyping technologies.

• Experience developing models for emulation and prototyping and working in non-UVM verification environments.

• Experience building protocol transactors, behavioral models, software drivers, or system-level validation infrastructure.

• Based in the San Jose area or open to relocation; comfortable working fully in person.

Salary range is $207,000 to $230,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits.