CPU Pre-Silicon Verification Engineer

Intel Corporation•Folsom, CA

1d•$164,470 - $232,190•Onsite

About The Position

As a CPU Pre-Silicon Verification Engineer, you will help ensure the quality, functionality, and readiness of Intel's next-generation CPUs – the high-performance engines that power some of the world's most advanced computing platforms. In this role, you will develop and execute validation strategies that verify complex CPU designs before silicon manufacturing. Working across architecture, design, verification, and platform teams, you will identify and resolve issues early in the product lifecycle, helping deliver industry-leading performance, power efficiency, and product quality. Your work will directly contribute to Intel's future client, AI, and high-performance computing products, playing a key role in bringing innovative processor technologies to market. Join Intel's CPU Design Team within the Silicon and Platform Engineering Group (SPE), where engineers develop the high-performance CPU cores that drive the next generation of computing experiences. The team is responsible for validating complex CPU microarchitectures, developing advanced validation methodologies, and ensuring design quality from concept through silicon. Working in a highly collaborative environment, you'll partner with architects, RTL designers, post-silicon engineers, and platform teams to deliver innovative processor technologies used by millions of customers worldwide. This is an opportunity to work on cutting-edge CPU architectures, influence validation strategy, and solve complex engineering challenges that shape the future of computing.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science or other Science/Engineering related field and 5+ years of experience in Pre-silicon verification and/or front end or Master's Degree in the same field 3+ years of experience in Pre-silicon verification and/or front end.
Software/programming languages (i.e. C, C++, C#, Visual Basic/.NET. Perl, Python, Java, etc.)
System Verilog/Verilog/VHDL, Verification, Validation and/or VCS or similar Simulator.
Experience developing comprehensive pre-silicon validation test plans, translating architecture and design specifications into validation objectives, test scenarios, coverage models, execution strategies, and signoff criteria.

Nice To Haves

Experience with computer architecture and microarchitecture
Experience with coverage driven validation
Experience in IP/SOC ASIC Validation
Experience in Specman E and/or OVM/UVM
Knowledge with x86 core architecture and instruction set

Responsibilities

Define, develop, and execute pre-silicon validation plans for Intel CPU core designs.
Validate CPU functionality, microarchitecture behavior, and system-level feature interactions across simulation, emulation, and FPGA environments.
Develop validation content, test scenarios, and infrastructure to improve coverage and identify functional issues early in the product lifecycle.
Apply coverage-driven validation techniques to ensure comprehensive verification of complex processor designs.
Review architecture and design changes to assess validation impacts, risks, schedules, and test requirements.
Collaborate with architecture, design, verification, and platform engineering teams to optimize product quality and validation effectiveness.
Perform debug, root cause analysis, and failure triage for functional issues discovered during validation.
Develop and enhance validation methodologies, automation frameworks, checkers, monitors, and validation tools.
Analyze validation results, publish findings, and provide recommendations to improve future designs and validation strategies.
Contribute to silicon readiness activities by identifying and resolving issues before manufacturing.
Support end-to-end product development across multiple phases of the CPU lifecycle.