Emulation Technical Leader

Cisco; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 214,000 - 310,000; Full time

Job summary

Cisco is seeking an ASIC DFT - Emulation Technical Leader to define and drive the DFT emulation strategy for Silicon One. You will architect a greenfield pre-silicon emulation roadmap, build a high-performing team, and validate complex scan, MBIST and JTAG architectures on Palladium, Veloce and Zebu.

You will collaborate with RTL, physical design, ATPG and vendors to enable seamless silicon bring-up and push multi-terabit validation.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in Verilog and SystemVerilog is required.
• Experience with C/C++ and scripting languages (Tcl or Python/Perl) is required.
• Emulation experience on Palladium, Veloce, or Zebu and related compilation/debug skills are essential.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the DFT emulation strategy for Silicon One.
• Lead the pre-silicon emulation roadmap and build a high-performing team.
• Validate complex scan, MBIST and JTAG architectures on major emulation platforms.
• Collaborate with RTL, physical design, ATPG teams and vendors to enable silicon bring-up.

Skills

Verilog/SystemVerilog

C/C++

Scripting (Tcl/Python/Perl)

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

PhD

Tools

Palladium

Veloce

Zebu

Job description

The application window is expected to close on: 11/16/2026

Meet The Team

The Common Hardware Group (CHG) delivers the silicon, optics, and hardware platforms for Cisco's core Switching, Routing, and Wireless products. We design the networking hardware for Enterprises and Service Providers of various sizes, the Public Sector, and Non-Profit Organizations across the world. Cisco Silicon One (#CiscoSiliconOne) 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. 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

As an ASIC DFT - Emulation Technical Leader, you will play a critical role in driving the DFT emulation strategy for Silicon One’s DFT team. This is a rare opportunity to own and define the DFT emulation strategy for Silicon One—the silicon powering the world’s most advanced multi-terabit networks. Instead of just maintaining existing flows, you will architect our pre-silicon emulation roadmap from scratch, build a high-performing engineering team, and set the standard for validating complex scan, MBIST, and JTAG architectures on platforms like Palladium, Veloce, and Zebu. Working directly with RTL, physical design, ATPG teams, and top-tier vendors, you’ll drive seamless silicon bring-up and push the boundaries of multi-terabit validation. Opportunities to spearhead a greenfield emulation strategy for hardware at this scale don't come around often—step in, lead the team, and shape the future of Silicon One.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelors + 12 years of related experience, or Masters + 8 years of related experience, or PhD + 5 years of related experience.
• Prior emulation experience on platforms such as Palladium, Veloce, or Zebu as well as experience with compilation and debug.
• Prior experience with Verilog and System Verilog.
• Prior experience with C/C++ and scripting skills with Tcl or Python/Perl.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience defining DFT Emulation strategy.
• Prior experience with JTAG protocol, scan architecture, MBIST and boundary scan.
• UVM and advanced System Verilog knowledge.
• Post Silicon validation and/or debugging experience.

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 $214,100.00 to $309,800.00 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.

• 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

$214,100.00 - $356,300.00

Non-Metro New York State & Washington State

$192,400.00 - $317,200.00

• 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.