Silicon Emulation Engineer

Waymo; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Waymo’s Compute Team seeks a senior emulation-focused engineer to advance silicon design, validation, and software integration on an emulation platform. You will collaborate across design, verification, and software, building scalable testbenches and tools for post-silicon bring-up.

The role requires hands-on experience with major emulation platforms, SystemVerilog, and scripting in C++, Python, or TCL, with a strong debugging mindset and ability to work in a hybrid schedule across U.S.

Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering or related field.
• 5 years of silicon development experience.
• Experience with at least one major hardware emulation platform.
• Experience with SystemVerilog and design verification methodologies.
• Programming and scripting in C++, Python, or TCL.
• Strong debug and problem-solving ability across hardware and software.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Design, Verification, and Software teams to simulate future silicon designs and software on an emulation platform, targeting functional and performance validation and left-shift of software development
• Design, implement, and optimize emulation testbenches, balancing performance and debug capabilities based on user needs and hardware constraints
• Write end-to-end synthesizable transactors to interact with emulated designs through software APIs and C-DPI
• Triage and root-cause failures alongside emulation users, leveraging waveforms, software logging, and custom-built emulation monitors
• Assist with post-silicon bring-up, debug, and characterization
• Build infrastructure to support the emulation user base, including tools for model build, regression, automation, continuous integration, data analysis, and training

Skills

SystemVerilog

Design verification methodologies

C++

Python

TCL

Debugging across hardware/software

Education

BS degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

5 years silicon development experience

Tools

Palladium

Zebu

Veloce

Protium

HAPS

QEMU

VirtualBox

Job description

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver-The World's Most Experienced Driver to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

Waymo's Compute Team is tasked with a critical and exciting mission: We deliver the compute platform responsible for running the fully autonomous vehicle’s software stack. To achieve our mission, we architect and create high-performance custom silicon; we develop system-level compute architectures that push the boundaries of performance, power, and latency; and we collaborate closely with many other teammates to ensure we design and optimize hardware and software for maximum performance. We are a multidisciplinary team seeking curious and talented teammates to work on one of the world’s highest performance automotive compute platforms.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and you will report to a Silicon Engineering Lead.

You will:

• Collaborate with the Design, Verification, and Software teams to simulate future silicon designs and software on an emulation platform, targeting functional and performance validation and left-shift of software development
• Design, implement, and optimize emulation testbenches, balancing performance and debug capabilities based on user needs and hardware constraints
• Write end-to-end synthesizable transactors to interact with emulated designs through software APIs and C-DPI
• Triage and root-cause failures alongside emulation users, leveraging waveforms, software logging, and custom-built emulation monitors
• Assist with post-silicon bring-up, debug, and characterization
• Build infrastructure to support the emulation user base, including tools for model build, regression, automation, continuous integration, data analysis, and training

You have:

• BS degree in Computer Science / Electrical Engineering or related field and 5 years of silicon development experience.
• Experience with at least one major hardware emulation platform (Palladium, Zebu, Veloce, Protium, HAPS).
• High level of proficiency with one or more of the following emulation approaches: virtual prototyping, testbench acceleration, hybrid emulation, in-circuit emulation (speed bridge), QEMU, or VirtualBox
• Experience with SystemVerilog and design verification methodologies
• Programming and scripting (C++, Python, or TCL) for automation, test development, debug flows, and release process.
• Strong debug and problem-solving ability across hardware and software

We prefer:

• Experience with AXI/AMBA, PCIe, DRAM, and Ethernet interfaces
• Performance and power analysis techniques
• Experience with JTAG, DFT, UART, SPI, GPIO and other test/low-speed interfaces
• Knowledge of advanced design verification methods (coverage, gate-level simulation, assertions, and UVM).
• Post-silicon debug software (e.g. Trace32, OpenOCD, TARMAC) and lab bench tools (analyzers, scopes, meters)
• Understanding of bare metal programming, embedded systems, Linux internals, operating systems, boot loaders, drivers, and firmware

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process.

Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements.

Salary Range

$175,000-$215,000 USD