Wireless PHY Systems Engineer - Pre-Silicon Emulation

Apple Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

Apple Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area seeks a Wireless PHY Systems Engineer to own pre-silicon emulation. You will lead Palladium-based bring-up, build robust frameworks, and collaborate across RF/Analog, DSP, firmware, and verification teams.

The role emphasizes energy-efficient wireless SoC development, lab validation, and cross-layer integration from RF to firmware. Extensive debug and performance characterization are expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 10 years of relevant experience.
• Solid foundation in DSP and wireless communications, with working knowledge of PHY and MAC layer concepts.
• Hands-on software programming in MATLAB and C/C++.
• Familiarity with analog/RF impairments in wireless systems.
• Experience with Bluetooth/UWB or other wireless protocols.
• Experience collecting, processing, and visualizing large-scale simulation data and metrics.
• Strong written and verbal communication across cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Validate Palladium emulation builds with early smoke and sanity tests.
• Build and own the framework and infrastructure for emulation: register maps, init/boot sequences, clocks.
• Abstract bring-up complexity into reusable tooling for the team.
• Maintain emulation infrastructure across multiple silicon generations.
• Support pre-silicon emulation efforts including test development and debugging.
• Bring up and optimize Bluetooth and UWB silicon in lab environments.

Skills

Digital Signal Processing

Wireless communications

MATLAB

C/C++

Analog/RF impairments

Bluetooth/UWB protocols

Data analysis

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Palladium emulation

Verilog/VHDL

RF lab equipment

Job description

Wireless PHY Systems Engineer - Pre-Silicon Emulation

San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States Hardware

Come join Apple's growing wireless silicon development team. Our wireless SoC organization is responsible for all aspects of wireless silicon development, with a particular emphasis on highly energy-efficient design and new technologies that transform the user experience at the product level. All of this is driven by a world-class vertically integrated engineering team spanning RF/Analog architecture and design, Systems/PHY/MAC architecture and design, VLSI/RTL design and integration, Emulation, Design Verification, Test and Validation, and FW/SW engineering. In this role, you will help de-risk our silicon well ahead of tape-out by owning the pre-silicon emulation environment that enables the team to exercise and verify new designs early and with confidence. We are looking for a wireless PHY systems engineer for this role: your understanding of the full signal chain, from RF and PHY through MAC and firmware, will help ensure that each emulated design not only comes up but behaves as intended. Prior Palladium experience is not required, and we will help the right candidate ramp up on the platform.

Description

This role is central to Apple's pre-silicon verification effort for wireless SoCs, centered on the Palladium emulation platform. You will be the first to bring up each newly released emulation build, and you will design and own the framework and infrastructure - register maps, initialization and boot sequences, clock and reset, and system-level configuration - that brings the emulated SoC into an operational state and enables the wider team to run their own design verification. Working at the intersection of digital design, firmware, and validation, you will own and evolve this infrastructure across successive silicon generations, while also contributing to pre-silicon emulation and lab bring-up of Bluetooth and UWB silicon.

Responsibilities

• Act as the initial validation point for each released Palladium emulation build, performing early smoke and sanity testing to confirm the build is functional, correctly configured, and ready for broader team use.
• Build and own the framework and infrastructure that exercises the Palladium build - including register map definitions, initialization and boot sequences, clock and reset setup, and other system-level configuration - to bring the emulated SoC into an operational state.
• Abstract platform bring-up and configuration complexity into reusable infrastructure and tooling, enabling the rest of the team to concentrate on their own design verification rather than platform-level setup.
• Sustain, extend, and maintain this emulation infrastructure across multiple silicon generations, establishing it as a long-lived, reusable platform rather than a per-project effort.
• Support pre-silicon emulation efforts for silicon validation, including test development, debug, and performance characterization on emulation platforms.
• Bring up, test, characterize, and optimize Bluetooth and UWB silicon in the lab, ensuring robust performance across real-world operating conditions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with 10 years of relevant experience.
• Solid foundation in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and wireless communications, with working knowledge of PHY and MAC layer concepts.
• Hands-on software programming skills for system modeling, simulation, and test, with proficiency in MATLAB and C/C++.
• Familiarity with analog/RF impairments common in wireless systems (e.g., phase noise, IQ imbalance, nonlinearity).
• Experience with or knowledge of wireless standards such as Bluetooth, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), or other wireless protocols.
• Experience collecting, processing, and visualizing large-scale simulation and test datasets, including performance metrics such as measurement accuracy, latency, and throughput.
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral, with the ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree with 10 years of relevant experience.
• Hands-on experience in wireless chip or modem development, with a strong systems-level understanding of cross-layer dependencies between RF, PHY, MAC, and firmware.
• Hands-on experience in Bluetooth and UWB systems design and validation.
• Digital design fundamentals and a solid understanding of SoC architecture and system-level hardware/software interaction.
• Hands-on RTL experience (Verilog/VHDL) and experience with register map and programming-model definition.
• Experience with fixed-point design, RTL vector generation, and/or High-Level Synthesis (HLS).
• Experience with pre-silicon emulation (e.g., Palladium) or FPGA prototyping, including build bring-up, debug, and performance characterization.
• Experience developing validation frameworks and infrastructure, including initialization sequences, clock and reset setup, and system-level configuration.
• Experience in lab FPGA/silicon bring-up, PHY/RF/MAC testing, and use of RF lab equipment.
• Proficiency with Python for test automation and data analysis, and experience with simulation automation, regression frameworks, or CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience collaborating with firmware and FPGA/emulation engineers to bring up, integrate, and debug hardware platforms, ensuring correct hardware/software interaction.

At Apple, base pay is one part of our total compensation package and is determined within a range. This provides the opportunity to progress as you grow and develop within a role. The base pay range for this role is between $184,700 and $324,800, and your base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.

Apple employees also have the opportunity to become an Apple shareholder through participation in Apple's discretionary employee stock programs. Apple employees are eligible for discretionary restricted stock unit awards, and can purchase Apple stock at a discount if voluntarily participating in Apple's Employee Stock Purchase Plan. You'll also receive benefits including: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage, retirement benefits, a range of discounted products and free services, and for formal education related to advancing your career at Apple, reimbursement for certain educational expenses - including tuition. Additionally, this role might be eligible for discretionary bonuses or commission payments as well as relocation. Learn more about Apple Benefits.

Note: Apple benefit, compensation and employee stock programs are subject to eligibility requirements and other terms of the applicable plan or program.

Apple is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. We seek to promote equal opportunity for all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, Veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant

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Apple accepts applications to this posting on an ongoing basis.