Senior ASIC Design Engineer – AI Accelerator / SoC

Senior ASIC Design Engineer – AI Accelerator / SoC

Full-Time 63000 - 77000 £ / year (est.) On-site
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Design and develop next-gen AI accelerators and SoC subsystems using cutting-edge digital ASIC techniques.
  • Company: Join a leading tech firm at the forefront of AI innovation.
  • Benefits: Enjoy competitive pay, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Other info: Collaborative environment with exciting challenges and career advancement potential.
  • Why this job: Be part of groundbreaking projects that shape the future of technology.
  • Qualifications: 5+ years in digital ASIC design with strong Verilog/SystemVerilog skills.

The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated

Senior ASIC Design Engineer to contribute to the architecture, microarchitecture, and RTL development of next-generation AI accelerators and high-performance So C subsystems.

The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on experience in digital ASIC design, with a solid understanding of

GPU, NPU, or complex So C subsystem architectures .

The candidate should be proficient in translating functional specifications into detailed microarchitecture and synthesizable RTL, optimizing designs for performance, power, and area (PPA), and supporting the complete ASIC development lifecycle.

This position focuses on hands-on digital design, RTL implementation, functional debugging, and collaboration with architecture, verification, and physical design engineers to deliver production-quality silicon.

Key Responsibilities

  • 1. ASIC Microarchitecture and RTL Design
  • Develop detailed microarchitecture specifications based on system-level and functional requirements.
  • Design and implement complex digital logic using

Verilog/System Verilog .

  • Develop high-performance datapaths, control logic, finite state machines, arbitration mechanisms, and communication interfaces.
  • Implement efficient pipelining, buffering, flow control, and resource-sharing mechanisms.
  • Optimize RTL designs for timing, power consumption, silicon area, and implementation feasibility.
  • Perform RTL code reviews, design analysis, and functional debugging.
  • Collaborate with architecture engineers to evaluate design trade-offs and improve subsystem performance.
  • 2. AI Accelerator and So C Subsystem Design
  • Design and implement functional blocks and subsystems for AI accelerators, GPU, NPU, or complex So C architectures.
  • Develop compute pipelines, memory interfaces, DMA engines, on-chip interconnects, and data movement logic.
  • Understand and implement hardware mechanisms supporting parallel computation, high-throughput processing, and efficient memory access.
  • Optimize data movement, memory bandwidth utilization, latency, and overall subsystem performance.
  • Collaborate with system architects and algorithm engineers to translate computational requirements into efficient hardware implementations.
  • 3. Memory and High-Speed Interface Integration
  • Design and integrate memory controllers, on-chip interconnects, and high-speed interface subsystems.
  • Work with memory subsystem architectures, including memory arbitration, buffering, transaction ordering, and data flow control.
  • Support integration of standard interfaces such as AMBA AXI and other So C interconnect protocols.
  • Collaborate with IP and system integration teams to ensure functional correctness and interface compatibility.
  • Analyze interface performance, bandwidth utilization, and latency bottlenecks.
  • 4. ASIC Development and Design Implementation
  • Participate in the ASIC development lifecycle from specification and microarchitecture through RTL design, verification, synthesis, physical implementation, and tape-out.
  • Develop synthesizable, maintainable, and production-quality RTL that meets design requirements.
  • Perform lint checks, clock-domain crossing (CDC) analysis, and reset-domain crossing (RDC) analysis.
  • Support logic synthesis, static timing analysis, and timing closure.
  • Work with physical design engineers to address timing, congestion, power, and area challenges.
  • Analyze and resolve functional and implementation issues identified during simulation, synthesis, and physical design.
  • Support silicon bring-up, post-silicon debugging, and validation activities as needed.
  • 5. Functional Verification and Hardware/Software Integration
  • Collaborate with verification engineers to develop functional verification plans and test scenarios.
  • Support IP-level and So C-level verification, including simulation, debugging, and regression analysis.
  • Analyze simulation failures and debug RTL functional issues using waveforms, logs, and assertions.
  • Participate in hardware/software interface definition, including control/status registers, interrupts, and programming models.
  • Support FPGA prototyping, emulation, and hardware/software integration testing.
  • Work with firmware and software engineers to resolve system-level functional issues.
  • Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

5+ years of hands-on experience in digital ASIC/So C design, microarchitecture, and RTL implementation.

  • Strong architecture and microarchitecture knowledge, with hands-on design experience in at least one of the following :
  • GPU or parallel computing architectures
  • NPU, AI accelerator, or machine learning processor architectures
  • Complex So C subsystems, such as memory controllers, interconnect fabrics, DMA engines, or high-performance processing subsystems
  • Strong proficiency in

Verilog/System Verilog RTL design .

  • Experience translating functional specifications into microarchitecture specifications and synthesizable RTL.
  • Solid understanding of digital logic design, pipelining, finite state machines, datapaths, memory systems, and on-chip interconnect architectures.
  • Experience with RTL simulation, debugging, synthesis, lint, and static timing analysis.
  • Familiarity with clock-domain crossing (CDC), reset design, and timing constraints.
  • Experience working with verification engineers to debug functional issues and achieve design correctness.
  • Understanding of ASIC design flow from specification through synthesis, physical implementation, and tape-out.
  • Strong analytical, debugging, and problem-solving skills.
  • Ability to independently design, implement, and debug complex ASIC functional blocks.
  • Preferred Qualifications
  • Direct design experience with GPU, NPU, AI accelerator, or heterogeneous computing So Cs.

Knowledge of chip-to-chip and die-to-die interconnect technologies , including UCIe (Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express) or other high-speed interconnect protocols.

Knowledge of LPDDR memory technologies , particularly LPDDR5/LPDDR5X and LPDDR6, including memory controller architecture and interface integration.

Knowledge of PCIe , particularly PCIe Gen5/Gen6, including controller architecture, transaction processing, and subsystem integration.

  • Familiarity with No C architectures, cache coherency, memory consistency, and high-bandwidth data movement.
  • Experience with AMBA AXI/ACE/CHI or other industry-standard So C interconnect protocols.
  • Understanding of AI/ML workloads, including matrix multiplication, tensor operations, and inference acceleration.
  • Experience with hardware/software co-design, firmware interfaces, or system-level integration.
  • Familiarity with UVM-based functional verification, System Verilog Assertions (SVA), or formal verification.
  • Experience with FPGA prototyping, hardware emulation, or post-silicon validation.
  • Familiarity with low-power design techniques, including clock gating, power domains, and power optimization.
  • Experience with advanced semiconductor process technologies, including 7nm, 5nm, 3nm, or below.
  • Experience with ASIC designs that have successfully completed tape-out and silicon bring-up.
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Senior ASIC Design Engineer – AI Accelerator / SoC employer: ECARX

At ECARX, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer that fosters a dynamic and inclusive work culture, where innovation thrives and every voice is valued. Our strategic COO Assistant role offers unparalleled opportunities for professional growth within a fast-paced international environment, supported by comprehensive training and development programmes. With a focus on collaboration and cross-regional coordination, employees enjoy the unique advantage of contributing to impactful global strategies while being part of a forward-thinking team dedicated to driving revenue growth and market expansion.

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Contact Details:

ECARX Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Senior ASIC Design Engineer – AI Accelerator / SoC

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We think you need these skills to ace Senior ASIC Design Engineer – AI Accelerator / SoC

Digital ASIC Design
Microarchitecture Development
RTL Implementation
Verilog/SystemVerilog
Performance Optimisation
Pipelining Techniques
Finite State Machines

Some tips for your application 🫡

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How to prepare for a job interview at ECARX

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