SDK Hardware Simulator Engineer

About Us:

Innatera is a rapidly growing Dutch semiconductor company that develops ultra-efficient neuromorphic processors for AI at the edge. These microprocessors mimic the brain’s mechanisms for processing fast data streams from sensors, enabling complex turn‑key sensor analytics functionalities, with 10,000x higher performance per watt than competing solutions. Innatera's technology serves as a critical enabler for next‑generation use cases in the IoT, wearable, embedded, and automotive domains.

With over €37m in funding raised, we're scaling fast towards bringing our neuromorphic technology to billions of sensors by 2030.

Our mission? To make the world smarter, safer, and greener. We're not just about pushing boundaries, we're about making a difference.

At Innatera we are committed to driving innovation and delivering exceptional results while creating an environment where our teams can thrive. We are a group of passionate, creative thinkers who thrive in a fast‑paced environment on challenges and are always ready to take on the next big thing.

To support our rapid development roadmap, we’re looking for a Senior SDK Hardware Simulation Engineer to help drive the development of our simulation environment by enabling early application development and system validation before hardware is available. As a key member of our SDK team, you’ll be responsible for designing and building accurate and high‑performance C++ hardware simulators that reflect our neuromorphic architecture.

This role is critical to how our software and hardware teams collaborate to test, validate, and iterate on next‑gen chip designs.

• Designing and implementing high‑fidelity simulation models in modern C++ and Python that accurately mimic the behavior of our neuromorphic processors, CPUs, memory systems, and other hardware components.
• Translating complex hardware specifications into modular, efficient, and testable software models integrated within our SDK environment.
• Developing and maintaining the simulation framework, enabling both early application development and system validation before silicon is available.
• Collaborating closely with cross‑functional teams (Digital Design, Firmware, and Software Tools) to ensure the simulator reflects real hardware behavior and supports continuous co‑development.
• Owning the quality and performance of the simulation infrastructure — writing unit and integration tests, conducting code reviews, and improving architecture and maintainability over time.
• Contributing to the SDK’s evolution, ensuring the simulation tools are accessible, user‑friendly, and valuable for both internal teams and external developers.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong programming skills in C++ (C++17/20) and Python, with the ability to switch between the two depending on the layer of abstraction or task.
• Experience designing software models or simulators that represent hardware components or systems.
• Solid understanding of digital hardware fundamentals, such as CPU/memory architecture, instruction sets, and DMA systems.
• Proven ability to build modular, maintainable, and high‑performance software architectures.
• Familiarity with hardware/software co‑design concepts, and how models integrate with firmware and SDK tools.
• Experience with unit testing, code reviews, and CI/CD pipelines to ensure software quality and maintainability.
• Strong problem‑solving and debugging skills across both hardware and software domains.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with digital design, firmware, and software tool teams.

• Experience working with RTL simulations, waveforms, and understanding how hardware behaves at the signal level.
• Exposure to bare‑metal firmware development.
• Background in computer architecture, particularly ARM or RISC‑V‑based systems.
• Knowledge of low‑power design techniques or SNN (Spiking Neural Networks).

At Innatera, you’ll be part of a pioneering team building the next generation of brain‑inspired processors for edge AI. Your work will help…