CPU Design Verification Lead

NUVACORE; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

NUVACORE in Austin, TX, is seeking a Design Verification Lead to head the team verifying CPU functionality and correctness across pre- and post-silicon phases.

You will build environments, develop DV methodologies, create test plans, and triage bugs to ensure robust CPU designs. Strong hands-on skills in SystemVerilog, C/C++, and scripting, with 15+ years in CPU verification, are essential.

Qualifications

• BS or MS with 15+ years experience in CPU verification.
• Experience with architecture and design practices in CPU verification.
• Experience with RISC-V, ARM64, or x86 ISA.
• Strong communication and debugging skills for CPUs.
• Proficiency in C, C++, SystemVerilog, scripting (Python/Perl).
• Experience mentoring DV engineers.

Responsibilities

• Build test environments targeting CPU unit, core, or system.
• Develop methodology and flows for simulations; generate regression results and debug data.
• Create test stimuli and coverage metrics at unit and top levels.
• Develop golden models and checkers for test benches.
• Triage issues and write detailed bug reports for CPU design.
• Write detailed test plans for CPU units, cores, or system.
• Develop DV methodologies and best practices for the team.
• Test CPU performance against the performance model; write tests in ASM, C, C++, etc.

Skills

CPU verification

SystemVerilog

C/C++

Python

Debugging

Mentoring

ISA knowledge

Emulation

Education

BS/MS in ECE or CS

Tools

Emulation

Formal methods

Regression testing

Job description

Nuvacore is building a ground-up high performance, low-power CPU for next-generation compute workloads. As Design Verification Lead you will lead the team verifying functionality and correctness of the CPU design. You will be responsible for all phases of pre-silicon verification as well as preparing for post-silicon verification.

THE ROLE

• Building test environments which target every aspect of the CPU unit, core, or system. Your goal is to find every weakness and flaw in the design using proven verification techniques.
• Develop methodology and flows for running simulations and generate all regression results and debug information.
• Create test stimulus and relevant coverage metrics at both the unit and top level that fully stresses all corners of the design
• Develop golden models and checkers at unit and top level as part of test bench infrastructure
• Triage issues and write up detailed bug reports to assist the CPU design team in fixing design issues.
• Develop and write detailed test plans for the CPU units, core, or system.
• Develop DV methodologies and best practices for the team.
• Test and debug the performance of a CPU against the performance model.
• Writing tests in ASM, C, C++, or other to test the CPU’s correctness according to the test plan
• Leverage formal methods and tools as another approach to determining design correctness
• Verification and testing of the gate level design of the CPU.
• Set up and leverage accelerated test environments such as emulation for high performance design testing

Minimum Qualifications

• BS or MS with 15+ years experience in CPU verification
• Understanding in architecture and design practices and the trade-offs in verifying CPU designs.
• Experience with one or more of RISC-V, ARM64, or x86 ISA
• Strong communication skills and aptitude in debugging and breaking things in CPUs
• Experience in C, C++, System Verilog, scripting and other languages such as Perl or Python
• Experience managing and mentoring DV engineers

Requirements — Preferred

• Years of expertise in multiple areas of CPU verification including unit level testing, top level testing, emulation, formal verification, coverage metrics
• Expertise in one or more areas of CPU microarchitecture including instruction fetch, branch prediction; instruction decoding, scheduling and register renaming; out-of-order execution; integer and floating point execution; load/store execution; prefetching; cache and memory subsystems; translation and memory management; memory coherence and ordering; power and thermal management; and clocking / reset design
• Strong background in low power microarchitecture and high-performance verification techniques, with a proven track record of verification and sign-off on multiple CPU programs.
• Experience managing large (20+) person design verification teams

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.