Backed by a16z.
About the role
We are seeking an innovative Soft CPU Design Engineer to join our IP Engineering team at our Altera Headquarters in San Jose, CA. In this specialized role, you will be responsible for the micro-architecture, RTL design, and implementation of high-performance, area-efficient Soft CPU cores. Unlike traditional ASIC design, your focus will be entirely on architecting processor pipelines that are natively optimized to leverage Altera FPGA architectures (including ALMs, embedded memory blocks, and DSP slices). Found on 1752vc Careers, the job board for startup and VC roles.
What they're looking for
- Education: Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- Core Experience: 3+ years of digital design experience with a specific focus on CPU/Processor RTL design and FPGA implementation
- Languages: Advanced proficiency in SystemVerilog or Verilog for FPGA synthesis
- Architectural Knowledge: Strong understanding of processor pipeline design, hazard handling, branch prediction, and memory hierarchy (caches, tightly-coupled memories)
- FPGA Tooling: Deep hands-on proficiency with Altera Quartus Prime Pro, including advanced components like Platform Designer (Qsys), TimeQuest Timing Analyzer, and Signal Tap or similar EDA software
- In-depth familiarity with the open-source RISC-V ISA specification and custom instruction insertion
More about this role
We are seeking an innovative Soft CPU Design Engineer to join our IP Engineering team at our Altera Headquarters in San Jose, CA. In this specialized role, you will be responsible for the micro-architecture, RTL design, and implementation of high-performance, area-efficient Soft CPU cores. Unlike traditional ASIC design, your focus will be entirely on architecting processor pipelines that are natively optimized to leverage Altera FPGA architectures (including ALMs, embedded memory blocks, and DSP slices). You will directly shape the future of Altera's embedded processor roadmaps, such as our RISC-V-based Nios V ecosystem, enabling customers to deploy flexible, high-efficiency processing directly into programmable logic.
Key Responsibilities
- FPGA-Targeted RTL Design: Micro-architect, design, and implement Soft CPU cores (using SystemVerilog/Verilog) intentionally structured to map efficiently onto Altera FPGA architectures
- PPA Optimization for Programmable Logic: Maximize Performance, Power, and Area (PPA) by optimizing processor pipelines around FPGA-specific constraints, utilizing Adaptive Logic Modules (ALMs), M20K/MLAB memory blocks, and specialized DSP columns.
- FPGA...
Browse similar: Startup jobs