Principal Product Engineer

The Principal Product Engineer at Cadence serves as the primary technical interface for top-tier customers, providing high-quality support throughout customer program lifecycles. This role involves managing technical communications, resolving customer issues, coordinating critical technical reviews, and ensuring successful silicon bring-up and product integration. The engineer collaborates with internal design, validation, and applications teams, as well as customer program managers, to deliver high-quality outcomes on aggressive schedules, leveraging computational software expertise.

Must Have

• Act as primary technical liaison for customer engineering teams.
• Ensure inclusion in all relevant customer communications and technical reviews.
• Strong understanding of Physical and Protocol layers for high-speed interfaces (e.g., PCIe, Ethernet, USB, CXL, UCIe).
• Familiarity with PCIe/UCIe LTSSM states and major Ethernet standards.
• Hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, BERTs, protocol exercisers, and analyzers.
• Diagnose silicon-related issues and interpret test results.
• Own and manage all customer support cases across platforms like SFDC, Sherlock, and Jira.
• Evaluate, triage, and prioritize incoming cases for timely resolution.
• Serve as technical escalation path for complex issues.
• Organize and lead technical reviews (SDC/constraint checks, pre-tape out, bring-up test plan).
• Maintain standardized documentation and track case metrics.
• Bachelor’s in CS/EE with 7+ years, or Master’s with 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Skilled at listening to customer concerns and identifying potential issues early.
• Strong commitment to customer satisfaction and timely case resolution.
• Broad technical background in relevant IPs and product engineering.
• Strong communication and organizational abilities.
• Experience performing Physical Layer and Protocol Layer validation for high-speed SERDES technology.
• Hands-on experience with post-silicon PHY bring-up, system interoperability, and compliance testing.
• Proficiency in using protocol analyzers, BERTs, and oscilloscopes.
• Familiarity with case management systems such as SFDC and Jira.
• Ability to prioritize cases, anticipate escalations, and manage technical reviews.
• High-level understanding of technical issues and coordination with SMEs.
• Proactive in gathering feedback and driving continuous improvement.
• Able to travel onsite (10%) for Silicon bringup and debug.

About Us

Cadence is a pivotal leader in electronic design, building upon more than 30 years of computational software expertise. We apply our Intelligent System Design strategy to deliver software, hardware, and IP that turn design concepts into reality. Our customers are the world’s most innovative companies, delivering extraordinary electronic products—from chips to boards to systems—for dynamic market applications including consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace, industrial, and health. Join us and be part of a culture that values innovation, collaboration, and customer success.

Position Overview

The Principal Product Engineer is a critical technical interface between Cadence and top-tier customers, ensuring high-quality support and engagement throughout the lifecycle of customer programs. The engineer is responsible for managing all technical communications, driving resolution of customer issues, coordinating critical technical reviews, and ensuring successful silicon bring-up and product integration. Also collaborate closely with internal design, validation, and applications teams as well as the customer’s program manager to deliver high-quality outcomes on aggressive schedules.

Key Responsibilities

• Primary Technical Liaison: Act as the main technical point of contact for customer engineering teams; attend and lead weekly customer calls organized by program management.
• Program Integration: Ensure inclusion in all relevant customer communications, technical deep-dives, and milestone reviews; provide status updates and action tracking.
• Protocol & Physical Layer: Demonstrate a strong understanding of Physical and Protocol layers for at least one high-speed interface (e.g., PCIe, Ethernet, USB, CXL, UCIe).
• State Machines & Standards: Familiarity with PCIe/UCIe LTSSM states and major Ethernet standards; interpret specs, debug link training, and compliance behaviors.
• Lab Equipment Proficiency: Demonstrate hands-on experience with oscilloscopes, BERTs, protocol exercisers, and analyzers.
• Debugging & Analysis: Diagnose silicon-related issues and interpret test results effectively.
• Technical Issue Management: Own all support cases filed by the customer across platforms such as SFDC, Sherlock, and Jira.
• Prioritization: Evaluate and triage incoming cases, determine severity and urgency, and ensure timely resolution in alignment with agreed service levels.
• Escalation Point: Serve as the technical escalation path for complex issues requiring cross-functional involvement (design, validation, firmware, applications).
• Technical Review Coordination: Organize and lead reviews such as SDC/constraint checks, physical integration assessments, pre-tape out checklist reviews, and bring-up test plan evaluations.
• Customer Engagement: Collaborate closely with the customer program manager to ensure smooth communication and inclusion in all relevant meetings.
• Documentation & Reporting: Maintain standardized documentation including kickoff materials, status dashboards, and silicon reports. Track case metrics and provide progress updates.
• AI Incorporation: Leverage AI-powered tools and assistants to enhance productivity, improve decision making, and maintain high-quality customer deliverables. Apply AI-powered analytics tools to extract insights, identify patterns, and generate actionable recommendations from complex datasets.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s in computer science or electrical engineering degree with + 7 years of relevant experience, or Master’s degree with +5 years of related experience.
• Skilled at listening to customer concerns and identifying potential issues early.
• Strong commitment to customer satisfaction and timely case resolution.
• Broad technical background in relevant IPs (both hard and soft) and product engineering.
• Strong communication and organizational abilities.
• Experience performing Physical Layer and Protocol Layer validation for at least one high-speed SERDES technology.
• Hands-on experience with post-silicon PHY bring-up, system interoperability, and compliance testing activities.
• Proficiency in using protocol analyzers, BERTs, and oscilloscopes.
• Familiarity with case management systems such as SFDC and Jira.
• Ability to prioritize cases, anticipate escalations, and manage technical reviews effectively.
• High-level understanding of technical issues with the capability to coordinate with subject matter experts.
• Proactive in gathering feedback and driving continuous improvement initiatives.
• Able to travel onsite to support customers with Silicon bringup and debug. Travel Requirements : 10%