Principal Digital Design Engineer​/Chip Lead Boise, Idaho, Posted

Principal Digital Design Engineer / Chip Lead

Our vision is to transform how the world uses information to enrich life for all.

Micron Technology is a world leader in innovating memory and storage solutions that accelerate the transformation of information into intelligence, inspiring the world to learn, communicate and advance faster than ever.

At Micron, we transform how the world uses information to enrich life for all. As a global leader in memory and storage innovation, we develop technologies that accelerate intelligence and enable the next era of AI, ML, and advanced computing.

Micron's Interface Pathfinding team operates at the leading edge of that mission — driving performance-scaling innovation across circuits, signaling, packaging, and interconnects with a 3–5 year technology horizon. A core part of that work is silicon-based validation of novel PHY solutions, and we are building the team to execute it.

As the Digital Design Engineer / Chip Lead, you will be the technical anchor of a deliberately small, senior team whose collective experience spans world-class analog and digital design, decades of hands‑on layout, silicon characterization, and physical design and design verification — united around the goal of carrying high‑speed interface innovations from architecture to tape‑out.

• Chip Architecture & Integration:
  Define top-level chip architecture, partition responsibilities across hard and soft IP blocks, and own the integration of hard macros alongside third‑party soft IP.
• RTL Design:
  Author, review, and maintain synthesizable RTL (System Verilog) for all soft IP control blocks, CSR/register file, clocking control logic, and top-level integration.
• Timing Closure Leadership:
  Develop and own chip‑level timing constraints (SDC), define clock domain crossing strategy, and provide timing budgets per block to the Physical Design engineer.
• Synthesis:
  Drive logic synthesis (DC / Genus) and guide optimization for PPA targets across all design blocks.
• Verification Coordination:
  Partner with DV staff to apply assertion‑based verification, coverage‑driven verification, formal methods and constrained‑random techniques to ensure high quality verification of control logic, interfaces, and system behaviors.
• IP Management:
  Define interfaces between PHY hard macro, third‑party soft IP, and internally designed blocks; manage IP integration agreements and vendor coordination.
• Tape‑Out Ownership:
  Own and drive the tape‑out checklist sign‑off process, coordinating across Physical Design, Verification, and analog team members to achieve clean handoff to the foundry.
• Design Documentation:
  Author architecture specifications, block‑level design specifications, and interface control documents that serve as the authoritative reference for the team.
• Follow‑On
  
  Roadmap:
  
  Capture design decisions, lessons learned, and architectural rationale to accelerate follow‑on chip development.

• BS, MS, or PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of ASIC/digital design experience with at least one prior tape‑out in a chip lead, design lead, or senior designer role
• Expert‑level proficiency in System Verilog RTL design and coding best practices
• Strong experience with logic synthesis tools (Synopsys Design Compiler or Cadence Genus) and static timing analysis (Prime Time or Tempus)
• Proficiency with industry‑standard RTL simulation and debug tools (VCS, Xcelium, or equivalent; Verdi or DVE for waveform debug)
• Solid understanding of CDC analysis methodologies and tools (Spy Glass, Jasper Gold CDC, or equivalent)
• Demonstrated experience integrating hard and soft IP blocks in a mixed‑signal or PHY‑adjacent chip environment
• Ability to work effectively as a technical lead on a small team — comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and owning the outcomes
• Strong written communication skills — this role produces specifications, not just code
• Experience partnering with design verification teams to define verification plans, review coverage metrics, and drive closure of functional and corner‑cases prior to tape‑out.
• It is expected that the candidate will…