Semiconductor, AI Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, Hardware

Principal/ Sr.Principal Digital Design Engineer

San Jose, CAOnsiteFull TimePrincipalCA$185,000–CA$230,000 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Required skills

AI connectivity
digital design
micro-architecture
RTL implementation
silicon bring-up
PCIe Gen 6/7
CXL
UALink
UCI
Ethernet

Nice to have

data-center environments
embedded firmware
firmware development challenges
embedded processor subsystems
RISC-V
Arm

Role summary

Astera Labs seeks a Principal Digital Design Engineer to architect and implement advanced digital designs for AI connectivity solutions. This role involves owning complex blocks from micro-architecture to silicon bring-up, driving RTL implementation, and ensuring production quality for protocols like PCIe Gen 6/7, CXL, and Ethernet. The engineer will collaborate with cross-functional teams, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to design methodology improvements. The position requires a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, 10+ years of SoC/silicon product development experience, expertise in architecture, micro-architecture, RTL, timing closure, and DFT, with proficiency in Cadence/Synopsys and advanced CMOS nodes. Experience with high-speed protocols like PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, or DDR is essential.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.

Principal Digital Design Engineer:

Role Overview

Join Astera Labs as a Principal Digital Design Engineer to architect and implement next-generation digital designs for high-performance AI connectivity solutions. You'll own complex blocks from micro-architecture through silicon bring-up, driving RTL implementation and collaborating with verification, physical design, and DFT teams to deliver production-quality silicon supporting PCIe Gen 6/7, CXL, UALink, UCI, Ethernet, and DDR4/DDR5 protocols.

This role offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology at the forefront of AI infrastructure, taking ownership of critical design challenges in a fast-paced, collaborative environment where your contributions directly impact products deployed by the world's leading hyperscalers.

Key Responsibilities

Design Ownership & Execution

Develop and implement complex digital blocks and subsystems by defining micro-architecture and driving RTL implementation with an exceptional power, performance and area trade-off using silicon technologies better than 7nm.

Lead efforts to achieve timing closure and implement Design-for-Test (DFT) features for optimal design performance

Drive designs to production, ensuring accountability for quality, schedule, and overall design success

Verification & Integration

Collaborate with verification teams to develop test plans, achieve coverage closure, and debug complex issues

Own third-party IP integration and block-level verification through sign-off

Work closely with post-silicon teams to facilitate silicon bring-up and debug

Technical Leadership

Mentor junior engineers to develop their technical skills and expertise

Actively contribute to the development and improvement of silicon development processes

Drive design methodology improvements and CAD automation initiatives

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent

10+ years of hands-on experience developing complex SoC/silicon products in Server, Storage, and/or Networking markets

Expertise in architecture definition, micro-architecture development, RTL coding, functional simulation, and synthesis

Strong understanding of timing closure, gate-level simulation (GLS), and DFT implementation

Deep expertise in at least one high-speed protocol: PCIe, CXL, Ethernet, DDR, or similar

Production experience with advanced CMOS nodes (≤7nm)

Proficiency with Cadence and/or Synopsys digital design flows

Preferred Qualifications

Master's degree in Electrical Engineering or related field

Track record of delivering multiple high-performance designs to production in data-center environments

Hands-on collaboration with embedded firmware teams; understanding of firmware development challenges

Familiarity with standard embedded processor subsystems (RISC-V, Arm, etc.)

Proven contributions to design methodology, CAD automation, or design infrastructure

Salary range is $185,000 to $230,000 depending on experience, level, and business need. This role may be eligible for discretionary bonus, incentives and benefits

We know that creativity and innovation happen more often when teams include diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences, and we actively encourage everyone with relevant experience to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ+ and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities.

Ready to apply?

You'll be redirected to Astera Labs's application page.

Principal/ Sr.Principal Digital Design Engineer

Is this role right for you?

Required skills

Nice to have

Role summary

Similar roles

See how RiseMe works