Verification Lead for 4-Core Coherent System

Semidynamics; Barcelona; Hybrid; EUR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4 days per week in Barcelona office

Work from home 1 day

Competitive package

Job summary

Semidynamics in Barcelona is seeking a senior verification leader to own the verification strategy for a memory-centric AI system. You will lead a small team of verification leads, shape the verification plan, and drive through tape-out sign-off with cross-functional partners.

Requires 12+ years in design verification, strong SystemVerilog/UVM expertise, and proven leadership in complex SoC projects. Domestic and international emulation/CI experience a plus. Fluent English mandatory.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of hands-on design verification.
• Architected reusable, multi-agent environments using SystemVerilog/UVM.
• Defined a verification plan, drove coverage closure and guided other engineers.
• Hands-on experience verifying cache-coherent multi-core systems or subsystems.
• Experience with a major simulator and debugger (Questa, VCS or Xcelium).
• Working knowledge of SoC bus protocols: AXI, CHI.
• Formal verification experience is a plus.
• Scripting (Python, Bash) and CI infrastructure (GitLab).
• Emulation and post-silicon debug capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Own the verification strategy for a 4-core coherent system.
• Write the verification plan: what is checked where, by whom, and how we know we are done.
• Set and track sign-off criteria for tape-out: functional and code coverage, bug trends, open risks.
• Decide where simulation, emulation and FPGA give best return with team leads.
• Lead the team of 3-4 verification leads.
• Hire and grow the team: recruit engineers, mentor the leads, set clear goals.
• Ensure healthy regressions and CI, push automation.
• Be the verification voice in arch reviews and report status to PM.
• Run the project and plan/estimate verification effort.
• Track tape-out risks and mitigations.
• Manage EDA licences and compute resources.

Skills

SystemVerilog

UVM

Technical leadership

Python

Bash

CI infrastructure

Formal verification

Emulation

Post-silicon debug

Integration verification

Fluent English

Education

B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Tools

Questa

VCS

Xcelium

Visualizer

Verdi

Palladium

ZeBu

Veloce

Job description

You will lead the verification of our 4-core coherent AI system, through a team of 3–4 verification leads, all the way to tape-out sign-off.

About Semidynamics Semidynamics builds memory-centric AI inference silicon in Barcelona. Our chips combine RISC‑V CPUs, Vector and Tensor Units and our Gazzillion Misses memory engine, so that large language models are never starved of data. In April 2026, SK hynix, one of the world's leading memory makers, made a strategic investment in the company. You will not inherit a mature flow at a company of 10,000 people. You will shape it, with a team you lead and a design team one desk away.

What you will do

• Own the verification strategy for a 4-Core coherent system
• Write the verification plan: what is checked where, by whom, and how we know we are done
• Set and track sign-off criteria for tape-out: functional and code coverage, bug trends, open risks
• Decide where simulation, emulation and FPGA each give the best return, together with the respective team leads
• Lead the team
• Lead 3-4 block verification leads (covering L2 cache, interconnect, core and other components)
• Hire and grow the team: recruit engineers, mentor the leads, set clear goals
• Make sure the team has healthy regressions and CI, and push automation
• Be the verification voice in architecture and microarchitecture reviews, and report status clearly to project management
• Run the project
• Plan and estimate the verification effort, and keep the schedule realistic
• Track tape-out risks and decide on mitigations early
• Manage EDA licences and compute resources

Why this role is different

You own the verification strategy. The plan you write is the one the company tapes out with. You build the organisation. You shape the team, hire the people you want to work with, and choose methods and tools. A seat at the table. You review the architecture and microarchitecture with the design leads, early enough to change them. A hard, current problem. Verifying a memory-centric, coherent multi-core AI system is one of the most interesting challenges in the industry today.

What you bring

• Must have 12+ years of hands‑on design verification
• Expert SystemVerilog and UVM: you have architected reusable, multi‑agent environments
• Proven technical leadership: you have defined a verification plan, driven coverage closure and guided other engineers
• Experience managing people: you have led verification engineers or leads, and helped hire themHands‑on experience verifying cache‑coherent multi‑core systems or subsystems
• Experience with a major simulator and debugger (Questa, VCS or Xcelium; Visualizer or Verdi)
• Working knowledge of SoC bus protocols: AXI, CHI
• B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Electrical or Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience
• Fluent English
• Nice to have RISC-V, CPU cluster or AI accelerator verification
• Scripting (Python, Bash) and experience running regression and CI infrastructure (GitLab)
• Formal verification
• Emulation (Palladium, ZeBu or Veloce) and post‑silicon debug
• Strong integration verification: connectivity, reset and clock, interrupts, boot flow

How you work

You always ask: "Who/what actually checks this?" You keep inventing new scenarios to find the next bug before it finds us. You like to mentor, and you enjoy seeing engineers on your team grow.

Why Semidynamics

Work at one of Europe's most promising deep‑tech semiconductor scale‑ups

• Accelerated development path, with room to grow into confidential computing, memory isolation and software security
• 4 days per week in the Barcelona office (city center), 1 day working from home 1 week of work from anywhere in the world
• Competitive package A collaborative, technical, growth‑oriented environment that values direct ownership and clear thinking