
ASIC Design Engineering Lead - SoC IP DMA
Required skills
- ASIC Design
- SoC IP DMA
- front-end design cycle
- microarchitecture
- RTL delivery
- debug
- silicon-ready quality
- continuous learning
- engineering excellence
- platform architecture
Nice to have
- SoC architecture
- high performance designs
- high speed networking
- AI/ML compute
- image and video processing
- memory subsystems
Role summary
Apple is seeking an experienced ASIC Design Engineering Lead to manage a team focused on SoC IP DMA design. This hybrid role requires a blend of people management and hands-on technical leadership, guiding the team through the entire front-end design cycle from microarchitecture to RTL delivery and debug. Responsibilities include defining microarchitecture, providing technical guidance, driving design infrastructure and automation, estimating project scope, and partnering with cross-functional teams. The lead will also mentor and develop engineers, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration. A BS degree and 20 years of relevant industry experience are required, with 10+ years in front-end ASIC design and people management strongly desired.
Description
As a hands-on ASIC Design Engineering Lead, you will split your time equally between leading your team and contributing directly as a technical contributor. You will: - Work closely with the platform architecture team to understand and refine architectural requirements Lead your team to define and document the micro-architecture - Provide high-level technical guidance, drive micro-architectural decisions, review team members’ work and provide feedback, and ensure quality and across the team's design work - Actively drive the development of design infrastructure, automation, and strategic use of AI and other emerging tools - Be hands-on with the all activities of the team, e.g. micro-architecture, RTL design, verification strategy, debug, and infrastructure development - Scope features, generate effort, area, and power estimates, and create bottoms-up project schedules and resourcing plans. - Partner with architecture, IP integration, chip integration, design verification, and formal verification teams to align on plans, milestones, and deliverables - Track execution, surface and resolve risks early, and communicate clearly to management and stakeholders - Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineers; actively invest in each person's technical and professional development - Build a team culture grounded in teamwork and collaboration, intellectual honesty, design/idea sharing, and a genuine growth mindset - Manage interpersonal dynamics thoughtfully and cultivate strong relationships within the team and with cross-functional teams
Minimum Qualifications
BS and a minimum of 20 years relevant industry experience
Preferred Qualifications
10+ years of hands-on experience in front-end ASIC design Experience in technical leadership: accountable for multi-person deliverables, setting technical direction, and interfacing effectively with management and cross-functional partners. Experience managing people on a team strongly desired Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and cross-functional collaboration instincts Excellent project planning and execution skills: bottom-up scheduling, effort, area, and power estimation, milestone planning and execution, and resource management Solid understanding of SoC architecture and high performance designs particularly for high speed networking, AI/ML compute, image and video processing, and/or memory subsystems Understanding of design concepts including arbitration, flow control, address translation, caching, bandwidth, pipelining, real time quality-of-service, and AMBA protocols, (AXI, APB, etc.). Understanding of low-power design techniques including clock gating, power gating, and logic depth; Understanding of timing optimization and high-frequency design Track record of driving innovation through building tools, infrastructure, and automation, and strategic use of emerging technologies including AI. Formal verification experience a plus
Sample Apple interview questions
- 1
Design a typeahead box for a search engine
system designmedium - 2
Design a rate limiter
system designmedium - 3
Architect a key-value store for distributed systems.
system designmedium - 4
Design a system to schedule jobs in a distributed environment
system designmedium - 5
What is an API and how does it work?
technicalmedium
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