CPU Architecture Verification Engineer

NUVACORE; Markham; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Nuvacore in Markham, Ontario is seeking Verification Engineers at Senior to Principal level to help prove the CPU is architecturally correct. You will join the design verification team to build stimuli, checkers, and flows alongside architecture and RTL teams.

Responsibilities include driving verification scope, creating environments with co-simulation against a golden reference, and developing assembly RIS to exercise ISA, exceptions, and privilege transitions.

Qualifications

• Degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Hands-on verification experience on CPU or complex digital designs.
• Strong knowledge of ISA and architectural state, with micro-architecture understanding.

Responsibilities

• Drive the verification scope, strategy, and test plans for architectural correctness.
• Build, maintain, and scale verification environments and co-simulation against golden model.
• Generate stimulus in assembly and RIS to exercise ISA, exceptions, and privilege transitions.
• Define coverage and monitors, analyze metrics to prove test completeness.
• Collaborate with architects and RTL teams to root-cause mismatches and support bring-up.

Skills

CPU architecture

C/C++/Rust

SystemVerilog

Python

Assembly testing

Education

Electrical/Computer Engineering degree

Job description

Nuvacore is building a ground‑up high performance, low‑power CPU for next‑generation compute workloads. We are seeking Verification Engineers at multiple levels — from Senior Engineer to Principal level — to help prove that the Nuvacore CPU is architecturally correct. As part of the design verification (DV) team, you will help drive architectural verification — checking the CPU's behavior and architectural state against the architecture specification and a golden reference model — building the stimulus, checkers, and flows that find architectural bugs long before silicon, working shoulder-to-shoulder with architecture and RTL design.

THE ROLE

• Plan & Strategy: Drive the verification scope, strategy, and test plans for architectural correctness — the CPU's behavior and architectural state versus the specification and a golden reference model.
• Environment Setup: Build, maintain, and scale robust verification environments — including co‑simulation against the golden reference model — that compare architectural state end to end.
• Test & Debug: Generate stimulus in assembly and random instruction sequences (RIS) to exercise the full instruction set and architectural corner cases such as exceptions, interrupts, and privilege transitions.
• Coverage Closure: Define the coverage space, write functional coverage monitors, and analyze metrics to prove the architectural test plan is complete.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with architects and RTL teams to root‑cause mismatches across RTL, model, and specification, drive design fixes, and support emulation, FPGA, and silicon bring‑up.

Requirements — Must To Have

• Degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 15+ years (Principal) or 4+ years (Senior Engineer) of design‑verification experience, ideally on a CPU or complex digital design.
• Strong knowledge of CPU architecture and micro‑architecture — the instruction set, architectural state, exceptions, and privilege model — with a good understanding of at least one modern ISA (x86, ARM, or RISC‑V).
• Hands‑on functional verification: test plans, testbenches, checkers, and coverage.
• Proficiency in C/C++/Rust and/or SystemVerilog, plus a scripting language (Python; Perl a plus).
• Experience writing and debugging tests in assembly for CPU verification.

Requirements — Nice To Have

• Architectural / instruction‑set verification against a golden reference model.
• Random instruction sequence (RIS) stimulus generation.
• Exceptions, interrupts, privilege levels, and virtualization.
• Constrained‑random verification and coverage‑driven closure.
• Assertions and formal verification.
• Emulation/FPGA and silicon bring‑up and debug (waveforms, trace).

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.