Principal Design Verification Engineer

Socket.dev; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 255,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

HSA

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Employee assistance program

Gympass access

Headspace subscription

Job summary

SambaNova Systems is seeking a Principal Design Verification Engineer to own verification for the next-generation RDU, the reconfigurable dataflow silicon behind our ML systems. You will define test plans, build testbenches, and ensure coverage closure with sign-off criteria alongside engineers from design, architecture, compiler, and runtime teams.

You’ll drive reusable DV infrastructure, verification IP integration, and AI-assisted verification workflows across the team, while supporting

Qualifications

• Required: BS or MS in EE, CS, or CE with 7+ years in ASIC design verification.
• Proficient in SystemVerilog and SVA with a standard methodology (UVM/OVM/VMM).
• Experienced in full-cycle DV ownership from test plan to tape-out, and owning a coverage model to closure.
• Strong debugging of hard, intermittent, pre-silicon failures to root cause.
• Demonstrated leadership in design reviews, testbench decisions, and mentoring engineers.
• Familiarity with modern computer architecture and ML accelerators or SoCs.

Responsibilities

• Own verification end to end for a major RDU subsystem: test plan, testbench architecture, coverage model, and sign-off criteria.
• Build the coverage model, set Closure bar, drive to closure ahead of tape-out.
• Develop testbench components, agents, checkers, and stimuli at multiple levels.
• Serve as technical authority for verification decisions and lead debug of hard failures.
• Own regression health and failure triage, drive root cause beyond reproduction.
• Verify functional and performance behavior; advance DV methodology across the team.
• Contribute to emulation and FPGA prototyping; support silicon bring-up and post-silicon debug.
• Mentor engineers to raise the team’s verification practice.

Skills

SystemVerilog

SVA

Python

C/C++

UVM/OVM/VMM

DV ownership

Test plan

Coverage model

Debugging

Mentoring

Education

BS or MS in EE/CS/CE

MS or PhD in EE/CS/CE (preferred)

Tools

SystemVerilog simulators

Verification IP

Emulation

FPGA prototyping

Job description

The era of pervasive AI has arrived. In this era, organizations will use generative AI to unlock hidden value in their data, accelerate processes, reduce costs, drive efficiency and innovation to fundamentally transform their businesses and operations at scale. SambaNova Suite™ is the first full-stack, generative AI platform, from chip to model, optimized for enterprise and government organizations. Powered by the intelligent SN40L chip, the SambaNova Suite is a fully integrated platform, delivered on-premises or in the cloud, combined with state-of-the-art open-source models that can be easily and securely fine-tuned using customer data for greater accuracy. Once adapted with customer data, customers retain model ownership in perpetuity, so they can turn generative AI into one of their most valuable assets.

About the team

SambaNova's RDU is the processor behind our inference systems, and design verification ensures quality and reliability before production. The team owns verification for block, full-chip, and gate-level benches, performance verification, coverage closure, and the emulation and FPGA prototypes.

About the role

SambaNova is looking for a Principal Design Verification Engineer to own verification for our next-generation RDU, the reconfigurable dataflow silicon behind our machine learning and AI systems. This is a senior individual-contributor role where you'll own the test plan, testbench architecture, coverage model, and sign-off criteria, while shaping the team-wide infrastructure, reuse patterns, and verification practices. You'll work alongside principal engineers from the design, architecture, compiler, and runtime teams who have built and evolved this verification environment across several generations of silicon, to verify the chip against production ML workloads.

Responsibilities

• Own verification end to end for a major subsystem of the RDU: test plan, testbench architecture, coverage model, and sign-off criteria
• Build the coverage model for your area, set the closure bar, and drive it to closure ahead of tape-out
• Develop testbench components, agents, checkers, and stimulus at block, full-chip, system, and gate level
• Serve as the technical authority for verification of your subsystem: review and arbitrate testbench design decisions, and lead debug on the hardest failures
• Own regression health and failure triage for your area: drive root cause, not just reproduction
• Verify functional and performance behavior
• Advance DV methodology beyond your own area: reusable infrastructure, verification IP integration, and AI-assisted verification workflows the rest of the team adopts
• Contribute to emulation and FPGA prototyping, and support silicon bring-up and post-silicon debug in the lab
• Set the technical bar through design and DV reviews, and mentor engineers to raise the level of the team's verification practice

Required qualifications

• BS or MS in EE, CS, or CE with 7+ years (or equivalent) of industry experience in ASIC design verification
• Deep hands‑on expertise in SystemVerilog and SVA with a standard methodology (UVM, OVM, or VMM), plus scripting in Python and C/C++
• Full-cycle DV ownership from test plan through tape-out on at least one complex ASIC or major subsystem, including owning a coverage model to closure
• Experience verifying digital logic in a CPU, GPU, SoC, or comparably complex ASIC
• Track record of debugging hard, intermittent, or low‑reproducibility pre‑silicon failures to root cause
• Demonstrated technical leadership without formal authority: setting direction in reviews, arbitrating testbench decisions, and mentoring engineers
• Working knowledge of modern computer architecture and of machine learning accelerators or SoCs

Preferred qualifications

• MS or PhD in EE, CS, or CE with 10+ years of experience in ASIC design verification
• Depth in high-speed I/O verification: protocol‑level verification of PCIe or Ethernet, and memory subsystems such as HBM or DDR
• Performance verification methodology: building performance benches and analyzing results, not only functional correctness
• Formal verification and assertion‑based methods
• Experience evaluating, integrating, and validating third‑party verification IP
• Gate‑level simulation and debug
• Emulation and FPGA prototyping platforms
• Post‑silicon lab bring‑up and functional validation, debugging first‑silicon issues to root cause
• Strong understanding of one or more of computation, interconnect, or memory systems
• Fluency with Claude or other AI tools applied to verification and flow development

Base Salary Range

Base Salary Range: Base Pay Range $180,000 — $255,000 USD

EEO Policy

SambaNova Systems is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Benefits Summary for US-Based, Full-Time Employment Positions

• SambaNova offers a competitive total rewards package, including the base salary, plus equity and benefits.
• We cover 95% premium coverage for employee medical insurance, and 77% premium coverage for dependents and offer a Health Savings Account (HSA) with employer contribution.
• We also offer Dental, Vision, Short/Long term Disability, Basic Life, Voluntary Life, and AD&D insurance plans in addition to Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options like Health Care, Limited Purpose, and Dependent Care.
• Our library of well‑being benefits available to you and your dependents includes a full subscription to Headspace, Gympass+ membership with access to physical gyms, One Medical membership, counseling services with an Employee Assistance Program, and much more.