Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer

NVIDIA Corporation; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

NVIDIA is seeking a Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer to join our Emulation team onsite in Santa Clara, CA. You will craft FPGA prototypes for next‑gen GPUs and SOCs, guiding designs through synthesis, P&R, and timing analysis.

You will bring up designs on prototyping platforms with hands‑on lab debugging, work with verification and SW teams, and provide release support to customers while coordinating with lab technicians.

Qualifications

• BS in EE/CE with 7+ years FPGA prototyping or MS with 5+ years experience.
• Strong understanding of FPGA prototyping hardware architecture, flows and tools.
• Hands-on prototyping lab tasks and lab tech management experience.
• Experience with Synopsys Protocompiler and Xilinx Vivado.
• Familiarity with lab debugging tools (ChipScope) and HW/SW coordination.

Responsibilities

• Build FPGA prototypes through synthesis, place and route, analyze timing and generate bitstreams.
• Bring up designs on prototyping platforms with hands-on lab debugging.
• Release prototypes to customers and provide ongoing support.
• Coordinate with verification, SW teams and lab technicians.

Skills

FPGA prototyping

Synthesis & P&R

Lab debugging

HW/SW coordination

Synopsys Protocompiler

Xilinx Vivado

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering

MS in Electrical Engineering or related field

Tools

Synopsys Protocompiler

Xilinx Vivado

Oscilloscopes

Logic analyzers

Job description

Are you passionate about FPGA prototyping? Are you interested in pushing the boundaries of innovation to make FPGA prototypes faster and more efficient? Can you work in a fast‑paced environment that requires coordination between many teams across geographies and resolving sophisticated problems daily? If so, we are looking for hardworking engineers who will craft FPGA prototypes of our next generation GPUs and SOCs on standard FPGA prototyping platforms. We are now looking for a Senior FPGA Prototyping Platform Engineer to join our Emulation team onsite in Santa Clara, CA.

What you'll be doing:

• Build FPGA prototypes by taking the design through synthesis and place and route, analyzing timing and generating bitstreams.
• Bring up the design on FPGA prototyping platforms involving hands‑on lab debug with HW and SW debuggers.
• Release the prototype to the customers and support them when they face problems.
• Using HW diagnostics specific to Prototyping platforms to help isolate issues between HW platform, FPGA design programmed on to platform.
• Good coordination with verification engineers and SW teams and Lab Technicians will be needed to accomplish your tasks.

What we need to see:

• BS (or equivalent experience) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields with 7+ years of experience in FPGA prototyping, or MS with 5+ years of proven experience in FPGA prototyping.
• Good understanding of FPGA prototyping hardware architecture, flows and tools.
• Experience with hands‑on FPGA prototyping lab tasks and working with or managing lab technicians in lab environment of medium to large scale.
• Experience in backend flows of FPGA Prototyping - Synthesis, P& R and Timing closure, with emphasis on Synopsys Protocompiler and Xilinx Vivado.
• Hands‑on experience with lab FPGA debug methodologies, tools (Identify and/or ChipScope), and lab debug equipment (oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers).

Ways to stand out from the crowd:

• Experience with carrying out independent as well as collaborative debug tasks and ability to quickly triage and root‑cause issues is a major plus.
• Prior experience with prototyping (Synopsys HAPS or FPGA platforms) of a high‑performance processor or SOC is a plus.

NVIDIA has continuously reinvented itself over two decades. Our invention of the GPU in 1999 sparked the growth of the PC gaming market, redefined modern computer graphics, and revolutionized parallel computing. More recently, GPU deep learning ignited modern AI — the next era of computing. NVIDIA is a “learning machine” that constantly evolves by adapting to new opportunities that are hard to solve, that only we can tackle, and that matter to the world. This is our life’s work, to amplify human imagination and intelligence. Make the choice to join us today!

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 168,000 USD - 264,500 USD for Level 4, and 196,000 USD - 310,500 USD for Level 5. You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until June 6, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

NVIDIA pioneered accelerated computing. Today, our AI infrastructure powers global intelligence, transforming every industry. Learn more about NVIDIA.