ASIC STA Technical Lead

Cisco Systems, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 268,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) with Cisco matching

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Cisco Systems, Inc. is seeking an ASIC DFT STA Technical Lead in the Silicon One team to drive timing constraints, DFT, and post-silicon validation for next‑gen networking chips.

You will work with RTL, CDC/RDC, and STA tools, coordinating across cross-functional teams to ensure robust silicon timing and quality. You will lead DFT insertion, timing closure, and STA debugging efforts while engaging in design, verification, and signoff processes to deliver cutting-edge silicon for AI-era

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 8+ years of related experience, or advanced degrees with proportionate experience.
• Experience with RTL design, CDC/RDC and conformal verification.
• Strong timing constraint development and verification background.
• Programming experience in Perl, TCL, Python, or Makefile.

Responsibilities

• Lead DFT and STA activities across the ASIC implementation flow.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to manage timing data and validation.
• Support post-silicon validation and signoff activities for timing and DFT.

Skills

RTL design

CDC/RDC

Conformal verification

Timing constraints

Scripting: Perl

Scripting: TCL

Scripting: Python

Makefile

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Synopsys Fusion

Design Compiler

Tessent

Primetime

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 01/11/2027

Meet the Team

The Silicon One team creates innovative hardware platforms central to the AI era, powering Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products for organizations globally. Our innovations in silicon, optics, and hardware platforms are shaping the technology industry. We're a global team of creative experts, bringing our unique backgrounds and bold ideas to push boundaries and help each other grow. Because full product development-from design to qualification to production-is within our team, we're able to think differently, experiment more, and work quickly. Join us to power the future of the digital world.

Your Impact

You will be in the Silicon One development organization as an ASIC DFT STA Technical Lead. You are a detail-oriented STA engineer with strong analytical skills and a deep understanding of timing constraints, such as clock groups, various exceptions, clock exclusivity. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, communicate complex timing data clearly. As a member of this team, you will also be involved in crafting groundbreaking next generation networking chips. You will help lead to drive the DFT and quality process through the entire implementation flow and post silicon validation phases with additional exposure to physical design signoff activities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 8 years of related experience, or Masters + 6 years of related experience, or PhD + 3 years of related experience
• Prior working experience with RTL design, CDC/RDC and conformal verification, SDC development.
• Prior working experience in timing constraint development and verification.
• Prior programming experience with at least 2 or more of the following scripting languages: Perl, TCL, Python, or Makefile.

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters degree + 15+ years experience.
• Prior working experience in debugging and analyzing PCIE timing constraints, TSMC memory timing constraints.
• Prior working experience with RTL design, CDC/RDC and conformal verification.
• Prior working experience in debugging and analyzing timing constraints, timing closure of DFT modes such as scan shift/capture and BIST.
• Prior working experience with SDC debugging & STA tools like Synopsys TCM/Primetime.
• Prior working experience with synthesis tools: Synopsys Fusion/design Compiler.
• Prior working experience with Tessent tool like DFT insertion in RTL.

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 $186,900.00 to $267,700.00 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 ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto 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:

$186,900.00 - $307,800.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$166,300.00 - $274,100.00

* 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.