Lead RTL Design Engineer

Cerebras; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

A cutting-edge technology company in California is seeking a Lead Front-End Design Engineer to drive chip design and manage external ASIC vendors. The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of experience in high-performance RTL design, with a Master's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering. You'll collaborate across multiple teams to address challenges in semiconductor architecture with a focus on high-performance solutions. The role offers a hybrid work environment with a competitive salary of $175,000 to $275,000.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in high-performance RTL designs.
• Experience with Front End Chip integration and third-party IP.
• Proven track record of multiple silicon successes.

Responsibilities

• Drive all aspects of chip design including functional specification and RTL development.
• Manage external ASIC vendor through the product development cycle.
• Work with design verification and DFT teams for optimal test coverage.

Skills

RTL design expertise

Software and system collaboration

High-performance design

Networking stack experience

Vendor management experience

Education

Master’s degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

Python

TCL

Job description

About The Role

As a lead front-end design engineer, you will be a key part of the world-class team designing and developing the next generations of the Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine (WSE). This role requires deep expertise in RTL design and integration, with a strong focus on delivering high-performance, power-efficient, and scalable solutions. The role also requires close collaboration and management of external ASIC vendor. You will collaborate closely with the design verification, physical design, software and system teams to bring innovative semiconductor architectures from concept to production, addressing the unique challenges of building WSE systems.

Responsibilities

• Drive all aspects of chip design, including Functional Specification, Micro-architecture, RTL development, Synthesis.
• Managing external ASIC vendor through product development cycle.
• Work closely with PD team members for design closure to meet PPA goals.
• Work closely with Design verification and DFT teams for achieving the best functional and test coverage.
• Work with software and system teams to understand opportunities to deliver optimal performance and feature set for the product.
• Debug silicon-level functional, timing, and power issues during bring up.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent.
• Can work in a hybrid work environment.
• 10+ years of experience in delivering complex, high performance high quality RTL designs.
• Experience with Front End Chip integration and third-party IP integration.
• Demonstrated experience in networking, high-performance computing, machine learning or related fields.
• Proven track record of multiple silicon success.
• Experience collaborating and managing external vendors.
• Experience with designing/integrating high speed IO.
• Networking stack experience including TCP/IP, RDMA and Ethernet.
• Knowledge of PCIe, CPU interfaces and Serdes technology.
• Working knowledge of scripting tools: Python, TCL.

Assets

• Experience with FPGA development toolchain, including Place and Route, Floor planning and Timing Analysis is a plus.

The base salary range for this position is $175,000 to $275,000 annually. Actual compensation may include bonus and equity, and will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, and qualifications.

Why Join Cerebras

People who are serious about software make their own hardware. At Cerebras we have built a breakthrough architecture that is unlocking new opportunities for the AI industry. With dozens of model releases and rapid growth, we’ve reached an inflection point in our business. Members of our team tell us there are five main reasons they joined Cerebras:

1. Build a breakthrough AI platform beyond the constraints of the GPU.
2. Publish and open source their cutting-edge AI research.
3. Work on one of the fastest AI supercomputers in the world.
4. Enjoy job stability with startup vitality.
5. Our simple, non-corporate work culture that respects individual beliefs.

Equal opportunity statement: Cerebras Systems is committed to creating an equal and diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate different backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We strive to build a work environment that empowers people to do their best work through continuous learning, growth and support of those around them.