Product Architectural Model Development Leader

191 Altera Corporation; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 232,000 - 341,000; Full time

Job summary

Altera seeks a Product Architecture Model Development Leader to drive behavioral and architectural models for next-generation FPGA silicon before RTL development.

You will lead a team, define modeling standards, and ensure models serve as a single source of truth for architecture, verification, RTL, and software teams.

The role involves coordinating with silicon architects, verifying teams, and enabling early customer prototyping and pathfinding across multiple silicon generations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• 15+ years of experience in silicon architecture, design, or verification with 5+ years in leadership.
• Strong hands-on experience developing behavioral/functional/performance models in C++, SystemC, and/or SystemVerilog.
• Deep understanding of FPGA/ASIC architecture Fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of behavioral modeling engineers for cycle-approximate and functional models of FPGA architecture.
• Define modeling methodology, coding standards, and architecture for models used in pre-silicon design flow.
• Own the roadmap for model development in lockstep with architecture milestones.

Skills

C++

SystemC

SystemVerilog

Python

Leadership

FPGA architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree in CE/EE/CS

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

SystemVerilog

SystemC

Python

C++

Job description

Position Summary

Altera is seeking a Product Architecture Model Development Leader to drive the creation, quality, and evolution of behavioral and architectural models that represent next-generation FPGA silicon before and during RTL development. This role sits at the intersection of architecture, verification, software enablement, and customer enablement — the behavioral models you and your team build become the single source of truth used by architects for pathfinding and performance analysis, by verification teams for golden-reference checking, by RTL design teams as an internal product reference for intended behavior, and by software/compiler teams for early enablement, long before silicon or even RTL exists. These models will also enable customers earlier in the product lifecycle through pre-silicon functional simulation, early RTL and data-flow development, and software and driver development ahead of device availability. You will lead a team of model developers and set the technical direction for how Altera represents FPGA fabric, hard IP, and system-level behavior in executable, simulatable form.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead a team of behavioral modeling engineers responsible for developing cycle-approximate and functional models of FPGA architecture (fabric, DSP blocks, memory hierarchies, hard IP, transceivers, NoC, etc.)
• Define modeling methodology, coding standards, and architecture for behavioral models (C++, SystemC, Python) used across the pre-silicon design flow
• Own the roadmap for model development in lockstep with architecture definition milestones — from early concept and pathfinding through RTL freeze
• Drive model accuracy, performance, and maintainability trade-offs, ensuring models scale across increasingly complex FPGA generations
• Cross-Functional Model Ownership Partner with silicon architects to translate architectural specifications and microarchitecture decisions into executable behavioral models
• Establish the architectural model as a trusted internal product reference for intended system behavior, functional flows, interfaces, and architectural rules across architecture, design, verification, firmware, and software teams
• Collaborate with verification teams to ensure behavioral models serve as golden references / scoreboards for RTL verification (UVM environments, formal checking, co-simulation)
• Work with performance modeling and pathfinding teams to support design-space exploration, power/performance/area (PPA) trade-off studies, and early customer workload analysis
• Drive early customer enablement by delivering models that support pre-silicon prototyping, functional simulation, RTL and data-flow development, and evaluation of product capabilities before silicon availability
• Support software, firmware, compiler, driver, and tools teams that depend on behavioral models for early development, platform bring-up, and functional simulation ahead of silicon availability
• Work with Quartus and customer-facing engineering teams to evolve models into early product representations that allow customers and FAEs to begin development sooner and reduce time to first successful design on new devices
• Interface with RTL design teams to resolve model-vs-RTL discrepancies and maintain model/RTL equivalence throughout the design cycle

Process and Infrastructure

• Establish and maintain simulation infrastructure, regression frameworks, and CI pipelines for model validation
• Drive model versioning, documentation, and configuration management practices so models remain a trusted reference across multiple concurrent projects/generations
• Champion automation to reduce hand-off latency between architecture spec, model, RTL, and verification
• Identify opportunities to leverage or build tooling (e.g., model generators, spec-to-model flows) that improve modeling velocity and reduce spec ambiguity

People Leadership

• Hire, mentor, and grow a team of behavioral/architecture modeling engineers
• Set individual and team goals aligned with architecture program milestones
• Foster close working relationships between the modeling team and adjacent architecture, verification, and design organizations

Core Competencies

• Strong architectural and systems-level thinking — able to reason about hardware behavior at multiple levels of abstraction
• Rigor and precision in translating ambiguous specs into unambiguous, testable model behavior
• Leadership style that balances deep technical involvement with team development and delegation
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple concurrent silicon programs
• Strong collaborator across architecture, verification, RTL design, and software organizations

Salary Range The pay range below is for Bay Area California only. Actual salary may vary based on a number of factors including job location, job-related knowledge, skills, experiences, trainings, etc. We also offer incentive opportunities that reward employees based on individual and company performance. $231,500 - $341,075 USD We use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants for the position. Applicants must be eligible for any required U.S. export authorizations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related field (Master's or PhD preferred)
• 15+ years of experience in silicon architecture, design, or verification, with 5+ years in a technical leadership role
• Strong hands-on experience developing behavioral, functional, or performance models in C++, SystemC, and/or System Verilog
• Deep understanding of FPGA or ASIC architecture fundamentals (fabric architecture, memory subsystems, interconnect, hard IP blocks)
• Experience bridging architecture specifications into simulatable models used for verification and/or performance analysis
• Experience using pre-silicon models to enable software, firmware, drivers, or customer development ahead of RTL or silicon availability
• Familiarity with RTL design and verification flows (SystemVerilog/UVM) sufficient to reason about model-RTL equivalence
• Track record of leading technical teams delivering complex infrastructure/models on multi-quarter silicon program timelines
• Strong communication skills — able to represent modeling team priorities to architecture leadership and coordinate across verification, design, and software orgs

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience specifically with FPGA architecture ( embedded memory, transceivers, NoC/interconnect)
• Experience with performance/pathfinding modeling for PPA trade-off studies
• Experience building or maintaining spec-to-model or model-to-RTL automation/codegen flows
• Familiarity with formal methods or golden-model-based verification methodologies
• Experience supporting early software/compiler enablement using pre-silicon models
• Experience delivering customer-consumable pre-silicon models or integrating architectural models into FPGA/ASIC development tools for early customer prototyping

Job Type: Regular

Shift: Shift 1 (United States of America)

Primary Location: San Jose, California, United States

Additional Locations:

Posting Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.

About Altera

Altera: Accelerating Innovators Altera provides leadership programmable solutions that are easy-to-use and deploy in applications from cloud to edge, offering limitless AI possibilities. Our end-to-end broad portfolio of products including FPGAs, CPLDs, Intellectual Property, development tools, System on Modules, SmartNICs and IPUs provide the flexibility to accelerate innovation. Altera is helping to shape the future through pioneering innovation that unlocks extraordinary possibilities for everyone on the planet.