ASIC Engineer

020 Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid parental leave

Disability coverage

Basic life insurance

Cisco restricted stock units

Job summary

Cisco’s Silicon Operations Quality and Reliability (SiOps) team drives qualification, reliability, and RMA testing for Silicon One ASICs, using ATE platforms and silicon debugging to ensure production readiness.

As part of this role you will partner with Product Test Engineering, DFT, and Design Engineering to define test strategies, analyze data, and translate validated solutions into high-volume manufacturing, contributing to overall silicon quality and manufacturing efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of IC test engineering, SoC/VLSI test bring-up, characterization, and production testing.
• Experience with Advantest 93000 Smartscale and Exascale for test program development, silicon debug, and characterization.
• Hands-on experience debugging silicon failures and isolating issues to the flop or cell level.
• Proficiency in C, C++, Java, 93k test methods, and Python.

Responsibilities

• Drive qualification, reliability, and RMA testing activities for Silicon One ASIC products using ATE platforms and silicon debug methodologies.
• Partner with Product Test Engineering, DFT, and Design Engineering teams to define ATE test strategies, qualification hardware requirements, and data analytics workflows that improve silicon quality and production readiness.
• Perform silicon failure analysis and debug system-level failures down to the flop or cell level to identify root causes and support corrective actions.
• Develop and enhance test coverage by defining new patterns and parametric conditions, correlating ATE behavior to system failures, and transitioning validated solutions into volume manufacturing.
• Analyze qualification and reliability data to identify trends, improve test effectiveness, and strengthen overall product reliability.

Skills

IC test engineering

SoC/VLSI test bring-up

Silicon debugging

C/C++/Java/Python

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Tools

Advantest 93000 Smartscale

Exascale

Job description

Meet the Team

The Silicon Operations Quality and Reliability team ( SiOps) plays a critical role in ensuring the quality, reliability, and production readiness of Cisco Silicon One products.

The team SiOps supports the development and validation of advanced ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), which are custom-designed chips that power high-performance networking and data infrastructure solutions.

Working closely with Product Test Engineering, DFT, and Design Engineering teams, the group develops and executes qualification, reliability, and RMA testing strategies that help deliver reliable silicon products at scale.

Their work directly impacts silicon validation, failure analysis, and continuous improvement of manufacturing test coverage across new product revisions.

This is an opportunity to work on advanced semiconductor technologies while solving complex engineering challenges that influence Cisco’s networking portfolio.

Your Impact

Drive qualification, reliability, and RMA testing activities for Silicon One ASIC products using ATE platforms and silicon debug methodologies.

Partner with Product Test Engineering, DFT, and Design Engineering teams to define ATE test strategies, qualification hardware requirements, and data analytics workflows that improve silicon quality and production readiness.

Perform silicon failure analysis and debug system-level failures down to the flop or cell level to identify root causes and support corrective actions.

Develop and enhance test coverage by defining new patterns and parametric conditions, correlating ATE behavior to system failures, and transitioning validated solutions into volume manufacturing.

Analyze qualification and reliability data to identify trends, improve test effectiveness, and strengthen overall product reliability.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in IC test engineering, SoC/VLSI test bring-up, characterization, and production testing.
• Experience with Advantest 93000 Smartscale and Exascale for test program development, silicon debug, and characterization.
• Hands-on experience debugging silicon failures and isolating issues to the flop or cell level.
• Proficiency in C, C++, Java, 93k test methods, and Python.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with IC component qualification and reliability failure modes.
• Working knowledge of data analysis tools such as JMP, statistical analysis methods, and AI/ML techniques for test data analytics.
• Hands-on experience analyzing component failures at the system level and performing fault isolation.
• Knowledge of electrical and physical failure analysis techniques.
• Strong problem-solving and cross-functional collaboration skills.

SiOps Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we’re revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era – and beyond. We’ve been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint. Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you’ll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere. We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

The starting salary range posted for this position is $167,700.00 to $245,200.00 and reflects the projected salary range for new hires in this position in U.S. and/or Canada locations, not including incentive compensation*, equity, or benefits. Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco’s plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time. U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco’s policies: 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees 1 paid day off for employee’s birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees Exempt employees participate in Cisco’s flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations) 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours of unused sick time carried forward from one calendar year to the next Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco’s policies. Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows: .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota; 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%; 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation. For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid. The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below: New York City Metro Area: $167,700.00 - $282,000.00 Non-Metro New York state & Washington state: $149,100.00 - $250,900.00 * For quota-based sales roles on Cisco’s sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined. ** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements. Cisconians power the future. We make impact as a team, innovating fast and fearlessly to create meaningful solutions on a large scale. The depth and breadth of our technology doesn't just benefit our customers – it also means limitless opportunities for us to experiment and learn. We understand the power each of our unique backgrounds bring when we work together. Because of that, we have a global network of thinkers, doers, experts, and curious creators who help one another do their life’s best work.