CPU Architecture Verification Engineer
Key Skills for This Role
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THE ROLE
Plan & Strategy: Drive the verification scope, strategy, and test plans for architectural correctness — the CPU's behavior and architectural state versus the specification and a golden reference model.
Environment Setup: Build, maintain, and scale robust verification environments — including co-simulation against the golden reference model — that compare architectural state end to end.
Test & Debug: Generate stimulus in assembly and random instruction sequences (RIS) to exercise the full instruction set and architectural corner cases such as exceptions, interrupts, and privilege transitions.
Coverage Closure: Define the coverage space, write functional coverage monitors, and analyze metrics to prove the architectural test plan is complete.
Cross-functional Collaboration: Partner with architects and RTL teams to root-cause mismatches across RTL, model, and specification, drive design fixes, and support emulation, FPGA, and silicon bring-up.
REQUIREMENTS — MUST TO HAVE
Degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
15+ years (Principal) or 4+ years (Senior Engineer) of design-verification experience, ideally on a CPU or complex digital design.
Strong knowledge of CPU architecture and micro-architecture — the instruction set, architectural state, exceptions, and privilege model — with a good understanding of at least one modern ISA (x86, ARM, or RISC-V).
Hands-on functional verification: test plans, testbenches, checkers, and coverage.
Proficiency in C/C++/Rust and/or SystemVerilog, plus a scripting language (Python; Perl a plus).
Experience writing and debugging tests in assembly for CPU verification.
REQUIREMENTS — NICE TO HAVE
Architectural / instruction-set verification against a golden reference model.
Random instruction sequence (RIS) stimulus generation.
Exceptions, interrupts, privilege levels, and virtualization.
Constrained-random verification and coverage-driven closure.
Assertions and formal verification.
Emulation/FPGA and silicon bring-up and debug (waveforms, trace).
Qualifications
- MUST TO HAVE
- Degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
- 15+ years (Principal) or 4+ years (Senior Engineer) of design-verification experience, ideally on a CPU or complex digital design.
- Strong knowledge of CPU architecture and micro-architecture — the instruction set, architectural state, exceptions, and privilege model — with a good understanding of at least one modern ISA (x86, ARM, or RISC-V).
- Hands-on functional verification: test plans, testbenches, checkers, and coverage.
- Experience writing and debugging tests in assembly for CPU verification.
- Architectural / instruction-set verification against a golden reference model.
- Random instruction sequence (RIS) stimulus generation.
- Exceptions, interrupts, privilege levels, and virtualization.
- Constrained-random verification and coverage-driven closure.
- Assertions and formal verification.
- Emulation/FPGA and silicon bring-up and debug (waveforms, trace).
Preferred Qualifications
- Proficiency in C/C++/Rust and/or SystemVerilog, plus a scripting language (Python; Perl a plus).
- NICE TO HAVE
About Nuvacore
Privately held semiconductor startup designing general-purpose CPU cores for AI infrastructure, data centers, and agentic computing.
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