ASIC Engineer

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

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an experienced ASIC design engineer to take end-to-end Front-End ownership of ASIC subsystems for Cisco platforms.

You will work with a multi-disciplinary team to meet stringent power, performance and area goals, contributing to process improvements and reusable design techniques. You will design high-frequency RTL in Verilog/SystemVerilog, lead reviews, mentor teammates, and collaborate with verification and physical design to ensure robust silicon and timely

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering with ASIC design experience.
• Experience delivering silicon from microarchitecture, specification, and RTL coding through tape-out with multiple ASIC tape-outs at advanced tech nodes.
• High-performance RTL design using Verilog/SystemVerilog.
• Understanding of timing closure, power optimization, and clock gating techniques.
• Experience with ASIC development flows including simulation, synthesis, and static timing analysis.

Responsibilities

• Define, design and take end to end Front-End ownership of ASIC subsystems to be deployed in Cisco platforms.
• Contribute to a multi-disciplined engineering team to meet power, performance, and area goals for products.
• Help define the process, methods, and tools for design and implementation of complex developments.
• Work on some of the most challenging problems in high-performance silicon for hyperscale infrastructure.
• Design and implement high-frequency, high-performance RTL in Verilog / SystemVerilog, meeting aggressive timing, power, and area targets.
• Lead design specifications and technical reviews, ensuring architectural clarity and high-quality implementation.
• Drive technical execution across architecture, design, verification, and physical implementation teams to deliver robust silicon.
• Collaborate closely with verification and physical design teams to close functional coverage, timing, and integration challenges.
• Mentor engineers and elevate engineering rigor, design quality, and technical execution across the team.
• Lead debug and root-cause analysis across simulation, system bring-up, and post-silicon validation.
• Creates re-usable code that promotes efficiencies in new ways
• Influence system architecture and key design decisions across complex ASIC subsystems.

Skills

Verilog

SystemVerilog

Timing closure

Power optimization

Clock gating

ASIC development flows

Simulation

Synthesis

Static timing analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/29/2026

Meet the Team

Cisco Silicon One is a business organization with a long track record of building complex and high-performance Silicon ASICs. Our silicon devices drive the world’s most complex networks and carry over 90% of IP traffic. Cisco Silicon One is the only unifying silicon architecture in the market that enables customers to deploy the best-of-breed silicon from Top of Rack (TOR) switches all the way through web scale data centers and across service provider, enterprise networks, and data centers with a fully unified routing and switching portfolio.

We are a highly specialized ASIC team with experts in all aspects of advanced IC package design and heterogeneous system integration. Our substrates use the latest 2.5D fanout technologies for large-scale integration, using the latest signaling and data transfer technologies. Come join us and take part in shaping Cisco's ground-breaking solutions by designing, developing and testing some of the most complex ASICs being developed in the industry!

Your Impact

Define, design and take end to end Front-End ownership of ASIC subsystems to be deployed in a range of Cisco platforms. Contribute to a multi-disciplined engineering team to meet the power, performance, and area goals for products. Help define the process, methods, and tools for design and implementation of complex developments.

• Work on some of the most challenging problems in high-performance silicon for hyperscale infrastructure.
• Design and implement high-frequency, high-performance RTL in Verilog / System Verilog, meeting aggressive timing, power, and area targets.
• Lead design specifications and technical reviews, ensuring architectural clarity and high-quality implementation.
• Drive technical execution across architecture, design, verification, and physical implementation teams to deliver robust silicon.
• Collaborate closely with verification and physical design teams to close functional coverage, timing, and integration challenges.
• Mentor engineers and elevate engineering rigor, design quality, and technical execution across the team.
• Lead debug and root-cause analysis across simulation, system bring-up, and post-silicon validation.
• Creates re-usable code that promotes efficiencies in new ways
• Influence system architecture and key design decisions across complex ASIC subsystems.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering and 7+ years of ASIC design experience, or Master's degree in Electrical or Computer Engineering and 4+ years of ASIC design experience.
• ASIC design experience, delivering silicon from microarchitecture, specification, and RTL coding through tape-out with multiple ASIC tape-outs at advanced technology nodes.
• Experience in high-performance RTL design using Verilog/SystemVerilog.
• Understanding of timing closure, power optimization, and clock gating techniques.
• Experience with ASIC development flows including simulation, synthesis, and static timing analysis.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in documentation, problem-solving, and technical communication skills.
• Experience working cross-functionally and collaborating with various technical teams.
• Problem solver who loves to tackle new challenges and a self-starter who is highly motivated and thrives on innovative technology.
• Enjoy working in a dynamic team environment, and out-of-the-box thinker.

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.