Cadence Design Systems

Principal Design Engineer

Cadence Design Systems • $135K — $160K *
Telecommunications & Hardware
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

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
  • 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 power-aware simulation

Responsibilities

  • Define the overall verification strategy, including methodology and tools
  • Design scalable and reusable verification environments
  • Analyze architectural specifications to identify critical features for testing
  • Lead DV execution of customer ASIC projects and manage customer interactions
  • Write complex test cases to achieve high functional coverage
  • Lead root-cause analysis of design bugs in collaboration with design engineers
  • Implement constrained-random stimulus generation for design exploration
  • Utilize formal tools to prove properties or find deep-seated bugs
  • Monitor and analyze functional and code coverage metrics
  • Oversee gate-level simulations to verify timing and reset behavior
  • Define the 'definition of done' for the verification phase
  • Guide junior engineers on coding standards and debugging techniques
  • Act as the primary technical point of contact between teams
  • Manage timelines and prioritize tasks to meet project deadlines

Benefits

  • Opportunities for professional development and mentorship
  • Collaborative work environment with cross-functional teams
  • Involvement in cutting-edge semiconductor projects
  • Access to industry-standard tools and technologies
  • Flexible work arrangements to support work-life balance
Full Job Description
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.

About Cadence Design Systems

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. is an American multinational electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The company produces software, hardware and silicon structures for designing integrated circuits, systems on chips (SoCs) and printed circuit boards.
Learn more about Cadence Design Systems
Size
9,300 employees
Market Cap
$43.9 billion
Industry
Net Income
$590.6 million
Founded
2018
5 Year Trend
+10.5%
Revenue
$2.6 billion
NASDAQ

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