Emulation Architect

Emulation Architect – Palladium / SoC (ARM/RISC-V + PCIe)

Location : Hyderabad/Bengaluru

Role Overview Drive pre-silicon validation strategy and emulation infrastructure for a complex SoC featuring ARM and/or RISC-V cores with high-speed PCIe-class interfaces, using Cadence Palladium Z2/ZX platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and own the end-to-end emulation environment on Cadence Palladium Z2/ZX for a multi-core SoC (ARM Cortex / RISC-V)
• Define emulation bring-up strategy including partitioning, compile flows, and debug methodology across multi-million gate designs
• Design and integrate PCIe-like interface models (TLM/BFM/synthesizable) for emulation — covering link training, transaction layer, and data path stimulus
• Build and maintain ICE (In-Circuit Emulation) connectors and co-emulation bridges to real PCIe host systems, FPGAs, or target boards
• Develop emulation-specific IP including speed adapters, FIFO bridges, and clock domain crossing helpers to overcome emulation clock frequency limitations
• Define and enforce compile-time and runtime debug strategies: waveform probing, transaction logging, assertion coverage on Palladium
• Collaborate with RTL designers, firmware engineers, and verification leads to map SoC subsystems (CPU, interconnect, PHY, memory controllers) onto the emulation platform
• Establish software co-development flows: boot bare-metal and OS images (Linux/RTOS) on emulated ARM/RISC-V cores, enabling early firmware and driver validation
• Manage emulation farm scheduling, utilization, and regression infrastructure — integrating with LSF/grid job management
• Drive emulation-to-silicon correlation analysis and document discrepancies
• Own design partitioning for hybrid emulation/simulation (Palladium + VCS/Xcelium mixed-signal co-sim)
• Champion reuse of verification IP (VIP) — particularly PCIe, AXI, CHI — across simulation and emulation environments

Required Skills & Experience

• 8+ years in ASIC/SoC verification with 4+ years hands-on Palladium (Z1/Z2/ZX) emulation architecture
• Deep knowledge of ARM (Cortex-A/M/R, AMBA AXI/AHB/CHI) or RISC-V (RV64GC, RISC-V International specs) SoC architecture
• Strong understanding of PCIe protocol (Gen 4/5): TLP/DLLP structure, enumeration, power states (L0s/L1/L2), error handling
• Proficiency in SystemVerilog, UVM, and synthesizable testbench design for emulation targets
• Experience with xcelium/VCS and Palladium iDFT/iSX compilation flows
• Scripting fluency: Python, Tcl, Perl, Make/CMake for build and regression automation
• Hands-on with embedded software bring-up: U-Boot, Linux kernel, PCIe drivers on emulated targets

Nice to Have

• Exposure to UCIe die-to-die interface emulation
• Familiarity with IOMMU, GIC/PLIC, DMA subsystem validation
• Background in formal property verification to complement emulation coverage
• Knowledge of power-aware emulation (UPF/CPF, voltage-domain isolation testing)

Skills Required
Tcl, Cmake, Vcs, Uvm, make, systemverilog, Perl, Linux Kernel, Python