SERDES System Validation Engineer

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

Cadence is the leader in hardware emulation-prototyping technology and products. Looking for an experienced, well-accomplished SERDES System Validation Engineer who is interested in challenging opportunities to be a technical expert in architecture and validation of interfaces on complex high-performance emulation processing ASICs and FPGAs, and is interested in establishing SI/PI system budgets and implementing the advanced design validation of SERDES training methodologies and flows. This position is located in our San Jose headquarters office, reports to the Group Director of R&D, and works in a growing talented organization.

Our emulation-acceleration system platform is the industry-leading, most advanced, most configurable, and most scalable system, generation after generation. These systems are primarily used in labs and datacenters. At the heart of these systems is a multitude of interconnected, highly complex, high-performance computing (HPC) units based on proprietary, innovative processor architecture. This position has a critical role in the development of such system products, and is responsible for the operation of the interconnect and interfaces of such systems.

Key responsibilities

• Be the technical SERDES expert for the system platform.
• Define and implement complex SERDES training algorithms for a complex multi-rack system involving thousands of interconnect links and a wide variety of channels on boards, in systems, over copper backplanes, and over optical fibers.
• Define and oversee the development of SI/PI design and validation methodologies for high speed electrical and optical serial link systems
• Develop validation plans for and lead the characterization and validation of SERDES and high speed memory interfaces.
• Characterize a wide range of IPs, including digital high speed serial peripherals, PLLs, and FPGAs.
• Work with SI/PI Integrity experts to approve proposed system implementations of link and power budgets.
• Work with the firmware development team for SOC characterization in order to develop in-system training and diagnostics.
• Correlate SERDES link measurement results with SI/PI budgets, and document the findings.

Qualifications

• Bachelors in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering with a minimum of 7 years of related experience, or Masters with a minimum of 5 years of related experience, or PhD with a minimum of 1 years of related experience
• Strong knowledge in high-speed system design and SI/PI budgeting methodology.
• Expertise in testing high speed serial electrical and optical links.
• Knowledge of adaptive signal processing, coding, and FEC algorithms.
• Working knowledge of PCB design and layout, as it impacts signal and power integrity.
• Experience with equalization techniques, Tx/Rx circuits, CTLE, and DFE.
• Knowledge of different CDR architectures.
• Experience in verifying DDRx/LPDDRx interfaces is a plus.
• Experience in scripting PERL, Python, or Shell is a plus.
• Technical leadership and the ability to solve technical challenges independently.
• Ability to work cross-functionally.
• Be energetic, self-driven, team oriented, and analytical
• Have good communication, organizational, project planning, and leadership skills.

The annual salary range for California is $131,600 to $244,400. You may also be eligible to receive incentive compensation: bonus, equity, and benefits. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive compensation structure. Please note that the salary range is a guideline and compensation may vary based on factors such as qualifications, skill level, competencies and work location. Our benefits programs include: paid vacation and paid holidays, 401(k) plan with employer match, employee stock purchase plan, a variety of medical, dental and vision plan options, and more.

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