Director of ASIC Design Verification

About the team

About the role

SambaNova Systems is looking for a Director of ASIC Design Verification to own end to end verification for the next generation of our RDU chips. This role asks for genuine depth in verification, not just management of it. You'll be the technical authority on methodology as well as the leader of the team.

You'll set verification architecture and strategy across the full chip and be accountable for pre-silicon quality through tape-out. The work spans block through full-chip and gate-level benches, performance verification, coverage closure, and emulation and FPGA prototyping. You'll be the DV voice in roadmap and tape-out readiness decisions, and your ownership carries into first silicon, supporting functional validation and bring-up debug in the lab.

You'll lead an experienced team of 8-10 engineers, including principal-level engineers who have built and evolved our verification environment across several generations of silicon. That depth is the most valuable thing you inherit. You'll own where the environment goes next, including the decision to change it, and we expect you to arrive with a point of view. You'll also own the team's growth, leveling, and technical bar as our silicon roadmap scales.

Responsibilities

Some of your responsibilities will include:

Own verification through tape-out

• Own pre-silicon functional and performance verification for SambaNova ASICs — quality, coverage closure, and on-time delivery to tape-out
• Define verification architecture, strategy, schedules, and DV environments for complex, high-performance machine learning ASICs
• Serve as the technical authority on verification: arbitrate testbench architecture, set coverage and sign-off criteria, and lead debug on the hardest failures
• Set and defend the DV schedule and own tape-out readiness sign-off, including the trade-off between coverage depth and time to silicon; report risk and readiness to executive staff with a clear point of view, not just a dashboard
• Carry ownership into first silicon — support lab functional validation and bring-up debug, feeding findings back into the pre-silicon environment

Lead and grow the team

• Bring a strong point of view on methodology, and be willing to disagree with the team and with peers when the engineering case supports it
• Own the direction of an established verification environment — understand the reasoning behind it, then decide what to evolve and what to replace
• Lead, coach, and retain principal-level verification engineers; be accountable for their development and continued engagement
• Grow the team toward a multi-workstream org: own staffing requirements, leveling, interview loop design, closing senior candidates, and developing technical leads

Own the methodology

• Own the DV methodology end to end — verification architecture, reuse strategy, and sign-off criteria
• Lead development of test benches, agents, checkers, and stimulus at block, full-chip, system, and gate level
• Drive pre-silicon debug and closure in both functionality and performance; own regression health and root-cause discipline
• Land new DV methodologies and processes, including AI-assisted verification workflows, to improve execution effectiveness and efficiency
• Direct emulation and FPGA prototyping strategy, and own third-party verification IP evaluation and EDA vendor relationships for DV tooling

Partner across the organization

• Partner with architecture, design, and software teams to settle requirements and drive DV planning
• Work with the compiler and runtime teams to map ML application flows into verification, so silicon is validated against real workloads
• Partner with hardware and systems teams on lab validation of first silicon, and represent DV in reviews with physical design, process and quality, and product

Required qualifications

• BS in EE, CS, or CE with 12+ years (or equivalent) of industry experience in ASIC design verification
• 5+ years managing design verification engineers, including hiring and performance management, with experience leading senior and principal-level engineers
• Track record of inheriting an established verification environment and evolving it with the team rather than replacing it wholesale
• Deep, current technical expertise in verification — able to own methodology, arbitrate testbench architecture, and personally lead debug on the hardest pre-silicon failures
• Full-cycle DV from planning through tape-out and into production silicon on at least one complex ASIC or large subsystem
• Deep hands-on foundation in SystemVerilog, SVA, Python, and industry verification methodologies such as UVM, OVM, or VMM
• Experience through silicon bring-up, including lab functional validation and debugging first-silicon issues to root cause
• Working knowledge of machine learning SoCs or microprocessors (CPU/GPU) and modern computer architecture
• Excellent communication skills and a track record of building consensus among stakeholders and team members

Preferred qualifications

• MS or PhD in EECS with 15+ years of experience in ASIC design verification
• Multiple large-scale, high-impact chips led to silicon
• Scaling a DV team through a step change in headcount or chip complexity
• Owning or directing post-silicon functional validation in a lab environment
• Deep understanding of performance verification methodology
• High-performance interconnect protocols (PCIe, Ethernet) and memory subsystems
• Advanced TSMC nodes and modern multi-die or chiplet verification challenges
• Emulation and FPGA prototyping platforms
• Managing cross-site or distributed teams
• Fluency with Claude or other AI tools applied to verification and flow development