CPU Silicon Validation Engineer

Apple Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 137,700 - 186,300; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. is seeking a cpu validation engineer in Santa Clara, CA to develop and validate CPU tests, create stress workloads, and drive silicon bring‑up across pre- and post‑silicon stages.

You will collaborate with RTL and DV teams to understand design changes and ensure comprehensive validation coverage across architectures. The role emphasizes strong C/C++ and scripting skills, plus knowledge of CPU architectures, pipelines, caches, and memory subsystems.

Qualifications

• Academic coursework in CPU architecture.
• Experience in C/C++ and Python or Perl, and CPU validation.

Responsibilities

• Work with CPU RTL and DV teams to engineer test content for new CPU features.
• Create CPU validation test plans, ensuring all key features are covered.
• Develop SW workloads to stress test the CPU and integrate into validation environments.
• Help maintain and improve our random test generator by adding support for new CPU features.
• Drive bring‑up and execution of silicon validation tools in pre‑silicon and post‑silicon environments.
• Debug functional silicon failures with Design and DV counterparts.

Skills

C/C++ programming

Python scripting

Perl scripting

Education

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering

Job description

Santa Clara, California, United States Hardware

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, new ideas have a way of becoming extraordinary products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Dynamic, intelligent people and inspiring, innovative technologies are the norm here. The same passion for innovation that goes into our products also applies to our practices strengthening our commitment to leave the world better than we found it. Do you want to join us in these pursuits? Join us to help deliver the next groundbreaking Apple product! In this role, you will be at the center of a chip design effort that collaborates with many disciplines and has a critical impact on getting functional products to millions of customers. You will be part of a team responsible for the functional validation of our CPUs, with the aim of identifying logic design and circuit bugs. You will be developing CPU test content using our test generators, defining new test cases for our cutting‑edge CPU designs, and spearheading our silicon bring‑up efforts.

Description

• Work closely with CPU RTL and DV teams to understand changes to our CPU designs and to engineer test content for new CPU features
• Create CPU validation test plans, ensuring all key features are covered
• Develop SW workloads to stress test the CPU and integrate these into our existing validation environments
• Help maintain and improve our random test generator by adding support for new CPU architectural and microarchitectural features
• Drive the bring‑up and execution of our silicon validation tools in pre‑silicon (FPGAs) and post‑silicon (development boards)
• Debug functional silicon failures closely with Design and DV counterparts

Minimum Qualifications

• Academic coursework in CPU architecture
• Experience in programming in C or C++ and scripting in Python or Perl

Preferred Qualifications

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering
• Understanding of CPU architecture including instruction sets, pipelines, caches, and memory subsystems
• Experience with assembly programming (ARM ISA is a plus)
• Knowledge of operating system fundamentals including kernel execution, privilege levels, memory management, and virtual machines
• Good understanding of the logic design and verification process
• Background in silicon bring‑up and system debug experience is a plus
• Strong problem‑solving skills

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $129,300 and $194,700, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple’s discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You’ll also receive benefits including comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses — including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits.

Note: Apple benefit, compensation, and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

At Apple, we believe accessibility is a fundamental human right. You’ll find that idea reflected in everything here — in our culture, our benefits and our digital tools. By welcoming as many perspectives as possible, we help you build a career where you feel like you belong.

Learn about accessibility in Apple’s workplace.

Learn about reasonable accommodations for job applicants

Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.