FPGA Development Tools Engineer

Altera; George Town; On-site; MYR 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Altera in Penang, Malaysia is seeking a senior engineer for the Device Modeling & Enablement team to develop and automate tests validating FPGA device and simulation models used by Quartus Prime. You will drive end-to-end validation flows, build regression infrastructure, analyze results, and collaborate with design teams to ensure high-quality releases.

The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in digital design and hands-on experience with FPGA/ASIC flows, plus automation and debugging

Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• 4-5 year of relevant experience.
• Strong foundation in digital design principles: combinational/sequential logic, clocking, resets, pipelining.
• Experience with FPGA or ASIC flows: RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog or VHDL), synthesis, static timing analysis, and constraints (SDC).
• Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Tcl or Python) and a working foundation in C++ for developing or debugging hardware or device models.
• Familiarity with Linux development environments and build workflows.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret tool logs and timing reports.
• Effective written communication for documentation and clear defect reporting.

Responsibilities

• Develop comprehensive test plans for device and simulation model validation across Quartus Prime components.
• Execute targeted and regression tests across multiple FPGA device families, configurations, and corner cases.
• Ensure verification coverage aligns with design intent and release quality goals.
• Build and run end-to-end Quartus projects to exercise synthesis, fitting, and simulation signoff on representative designs.
• Maintain golden reference results; compare and triage deltas in QoR, performance, resource utilization, and warnings/errors.
• Package and maintain reproducible test kits and reference designs.
• Create and maintain automation and modeling tools using C++, Tcl, Python, and bash for test generation, execution, log mining, and results reporting.
• Develop and maintain C++ device model libraries representing FPGA architecture blocks such as DSP and memory used by synthesis and simulation flows.
• Integrate tests and model validation into CI pipelines, including pass/fail gates and artifact tracking.
• Develop utilities to parameterize devices, architectural variants, corners, and random seeds for coverage expansion.
• Analyze failures across synthesis, fitter, and device models; isolate root causes and validate fixes with teams.

Skills

Digital design

FPGA flows

Automation

C++

Python

Tcl

Linux

Debugging

CI pipelines

Education

BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field

Tools

Git

Quartus Prime

TimeQuest

Job description

Job Details: Job Description: We are seeking a senior engineer to join our Device Modeling & Enablement team. In this role, you will develop and automate tests used to validate FPGA device and simulation models used by Altera Quartus Prime. You’ll drive end-to-end validation flows, build and maintain regression infrastructure, analyze results, and collaborate with design teams to ensure high-quality releases across multiple device families.

Ideal candidate has:

• a strong foundation in digital design
• hands on experience with FPGA/ASIC development flows
• solid skill in automation and debug
• a strong focus on quality and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

Test Planning and Execution

Develop comprehensive test plans for device and simulation model validation across Quartus Prime components. Execute targeted and regression tests across multiple FPGA device families, configurations, and corner cases. Ensure verification coverage aligns with design intent and release quality goals.

Flow and Infrastructure

Build and run end-to-end Quartus projects to exercise synthesis, fitting, and simulation signoff on representative designs. Maintain golden reference results; compare and triage deltas in QoR, performance, resource utilization, and warnings/errors. Package and maintain reproducible test kits and reference designs.

Automation, Tooling, and Modeling

Create and maintain automation and modeling tools using C++, Tcl, Python, and bash for test generation, execution, log mining, and results reporting. Develop and maintain C++ device model libraries representing FPGA architecture blocks such as DSP and memory used by synthesis and simulation flows. Integrate tests and model validation into CI pipelines (e.g., Jenkins/GitLab CI), including pass/fail gates and artifact tracking. Develop utilities to parameterize devices, architectural variants, corners, and random seeds for coverage expansion.

Debug and Quality

Analyze failures across synthesis, fitter, and device models; isolate root causes across RTL, constraints, tool behavior, and C++ model implementations. Collaborate with modeling, device, and software teams to validate fixes and prevent regressions. Track and improve key quality metrics (pass rate, coverage, defect density).

Documentation and Process

Author and maintain test plans, runbooks, and user guides for test environments. Contribute to checklists and acceptance criteria for device and model signoff. Help improve validation process for better scalability and repeatability.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field
• 4-5 year of relevant experience
• Strong foundation in digital design principles: combinational/sequential logic, clocking, resets, pipelining.
• Experience with FPGA or ASIC flows: RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog or VHDL), synthesis, static timing analysis, and constraints (SDC).
• Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Tcl or Python) and a working foundation in C++ for developing or debugging hardware or device models.
• Familiarity with Linux development environments and build workflows.
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to interpret tool logs and timing reports.
• Effective written communication for documentation and clear defect reporting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing or maintaining C++ libraries for hardware, architectural, or device modeling (e.g., DSP, memory, or timing models).
• Experience with Altera Quartus Prime (Lite/Standard/Pro), including TimeQuest and basic fitter concepts.
• Hands-on experience with version control (Git) and CI systems (Jenkins/GitLab CI).
• Familiarity with device concepts such as speed grades, PVT corners, IO standards, and clocking networks.
• Basic understanding of timing signoff concepts (clocks, generated clocks, I/O delays, false/multicycle paths).
• Coursework or projects involving FPGA boards, EDA tools, or regression test environments.

Job Type: Regular Shift: Shift 1 (Malaysia) Primary Location: Penang 15, Penang, Malaysia Additional Locations:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.

About Altera

Altera: Accelerating Innovators Altera provides leadership programmable solutions that are easy-to-use and deploy in applications from cloud to edge, offering limitless AI possibilities. Our end-to-end broad portfolio of products including FPGAs, CPLDs, Intellectual Property, development tools, System on Modules, SmartNICs and IPUs provide the flexibility to accelerate innovation. Altera is helping to shape the future through pioneering innovation that unlocks extraordinary possibilities for everyone on the planet.